Dear Editor,
Prime Minister Modi’s initiative regarding the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits is welcome. After their forcible exodus from the Valley in 1990, a majority of the Pandits opted to stay in the Jammu province, hoping to return to the Valley once normalcy returned. The rest moved to other states. During the intervening period, fundamentalist forces in connivance with leaders and administrators grabbed the occasion and forcibly occupied properties owned by KPs. The KPs wanted a roof over their heads. They were compelled to dispose of properties in distress sales at throwaway prices.
In the past more than two decades, KPs got split further into smaller families. Children preferred to settle down in their adopted states while their ailing and old parents were left alone to their fate. Under these circumstances, question arises, whether a KP should think of returning to the land of his forefathers, where a hostile environment, harsh winter conditions, solitary confinement, zero job opportunities and the nick name Daali Batta, unheard after migration, awaits him.
If the government wishes to provide succour to the KPs, it should provide a financial package for each KP family that migrated wherever they are based. Only this can apply a healing touch to their wounds and enable them to make good their losses as a result of their forcible exodus from the Valley.
M. K Koul,
Ambala Cantt