Omkar Dattatray
With strenuous and sincere efforts of the father of nation Mahatma Gandhi, the government of independent India had banned and abolished the curse of untouchability, but it is more regrettable that the untouchability still is seen, though the bad practice had long before been made a cognizable offence by Government of that times. The acclaimed and celebrated poet and writer of Jammu and Kashmir Motilal Saqui had rightly said through the medium of his poetry that Kashmiri Pandits are the new breed of untouchables. There is no contradiction and controversy about this poetry and prophesy of the great poet. The Kashmiri Pandits have in fact become new untouchables due to apathy, neglect and overlooking of interests by the Governments. There is total neglect, insensitivity and ignoring the genuine demands and pressing issues of the microscopic minority community. There total neglect and ignoring of the genuine issues and demands of this hapless community forces one to conclude that these unfortunate and forbidden sons of the mother India are living like untouchables due to the total neglect and disdain of the successive centre and state governments. It is so sad that a bad name of migrants has been given to the uprooted and exiled Kashmiri Pandits in their own secular democracy and they are forced to spend their days in very difficult conditions in the perpetuation of which the role of the government is very contributory. There unfortunate sons of mother India are forced to live a life of abject neglect and disdain in their own country and there is nothing shameless than their sad plight in the free India. These hapless creatures are living the life of total helplessness thanks to the lackluster and lackadaisical attitude of the powers towards the burning issues and demands of this community. All this forces one to say that the Kashmiri Pandits are the new untouchables of free India and they are suffering for no fault of theirs but because of the government of India and the then government of NC could not stop their exit from Kashmir in those dark days of terrorism when they were forced to leave their homes and hearths for safety and security to their precious lives and take refuge in the hot and humid land of Jammu and other parts of India. They were not acclimatized with the climate of Jammu and other places of India but were forced to take shelter there. But the people of Jammu deserve all praise and appreciation that they have embraced this exiled community and gave them a place amid themselves. The Kashmiri Pandits are the prey of the ethnic cleansing ,apartheid and genocide in their own country and it is very unfortunate and therefore there is no wrong and fault in calling the Kashmiri Pandits as the new untouchables of the independent India. The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir has said in a high level meeting that the government is not providing the necessaries of life to the uprooted Pandits as doing so will not force them to return to Kashmir and this shows the total apathy and neglect of this community by the rulers. It is very sad and disturbing that these hapless souls are allowed to rotten and die in the hot and humid climate of Jammu and elsewhere. Thus in effect and practice these hapless community members are treated as untouchables and the Gandhi will be at unease in heavens over the sad plight of the Kashmiri Pandits with whom the treatment of the untouchables is given in the free India and there is no shame big than this attitude of the pseudo secular governments and the Kashmiri Pandits are forced to live the life of the untouchables in the free In India. These unfortunate and hapless Kashmiri Pandits are looked down upon and are not treated as the equal citizens of the country instead they live the life of abject neglect and deprivation. Their magnificent culture and identity is eroding and there is threat to their identity and culture and there is the lurking danger of their extinction like the proverbial Kashmiri Hangul and thus the immediate steps should be taken by the powers to reverse this trend of their extinction. Thus the government should take sincere steps to conserve and preserve the identity and culture of the Kashmiri Pandits so that their age old culture will be saved and they be allowed to grow and flourish in the secular democracy of the country. The successive centre and the state governments have only been busy in experimenting with the Kashmiri Pandits and the powers are not sincere about their return and rehabilitation save only making loud declarations about the return and rehabilitation of the uprooted Pandits. In over three decades of their displacement not a single Kashmiri Pandit family has been rehabilitated in Kashmir and the tall claims that situation has limped back to normalcy in Kashmir is false and the government could not rehabilitate even one family. The Pandits cannot return to Kashmir under the prevailing circumstances as the killings of the Kashmiri Pandits, PM package employees, other Hindu minorities and the non locals both Hindus and non-Hindus is taking place in Kashmir to cleanse the valley from the infidels to put it in the terminology of the terrorists and the indoctrinated youth of the Muslim community. The majority of the PM package employees serving across valley have been forced to leave the Kashmir after the killing of their colleague Rahul Bhat in his office and in the line of duty. The dastardly killing of Rahul Bhat on 12th May and the barbaric killing of a non-local women teacher Rajni Bala in the south Kashmir district of Kulgam has created fear psychosis in the Pandit package employees and the reserved category employees of Jammu and both Pandit Package employees and the Jammu based employees working in Kashmir have since fled the valley for the safety and security of their life. Both the Package employees and the reserved category employees are on a continuous strike and are demanding their transfer/shifting to Jammu till the situation will become conducive for their living and working. But the BJP government of the centre and the LG administration is not paying any attention towards the genuine demand of their relocation and attachment to the RC office Jammu till the normalcy is restored in Kashmir. It is very unfortunate and unconstitutional that the Package employees are made to sign a bond at the time of their joining to the effect that the package employees posts are non transferable and it any package employee will seek his or her transfer he will lose the job. But in the original PM Package there was no such provision of the package posts are non transferable. Therefore the original employment package was free from such undemocratic and unconstitutional provisions. The making the PM Package job non transferable is the brain child of the NC government of Omer Abdullah and it was at his insistence that the Package employees job was made non transferable come what may. Thus NC government of the state took the benefit of the helplessness of the Pandit youth and exploited them to the hilt and made the undemocratic clause of the signing of the bond by those youth who got employment under the PM special package for Kashmiri Pandits. One fails to understand that when employees can be transferred from Jammu to Kashmir and from Kashmir to Jammu and then why there is blanket ban on the transfer of the package employees. This is gross and sheer injustice and discrimination with these helpless and hapless package employees and they are posted across the Kashmir valley not simply for serving but they are subjected to the risk to their lives as they are being targeted by the terrorists to scare and frighten them so that to force them to leave Kashmir. The PM Package is a failed package and it can be called as the killer package as the package employees are left to rotten and rust by rulers of the country. They are left in lurch and no sympathy and empathy is shown to these hapless employees. The government of the day should address the genuine issues and demands of the Kashmiri Pandits including the Package employees who are protesting in Jammu and in the migrant camps across Kashmir for their relocation to Jammu for their safety and survival. Thus till the situation becomes normal in Kashmir, Package employees should be attached to the RC office Jammu, but Government of the centre and LG’s administration are overlooking the issues and genuine demands of the Kashmiri Pandits and the Package employees. The uprooted Kashmiri Pandits are treated like the out castes and can rightly be called as the new untouchables.
(The author is a columnist and social activist).