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| 'Unfortunate that Kashmiri Pandit Resettlement Issue is Being Politicised' | | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, APR 14: A section of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley are against the idea of separate townships for members of the displaced community and said it was "unfortunate" that the issue was being "politicized".
Chuni Lal Vishen, a Kashmiri Pandit who stayed in the Valley when most people of his community migrated to other parts of the country after the onset of militancy in early 1990s, believes in the slogan - 'Sang Sang Jiyain Gay, Sang Sang Marain Gay' (we will live together and die together).
Vishen, who participated in a demonstration organized by separatist group JKLF to protest against the proposed setting up of an exclusive township for the Kashmiri Pandits, feels it echoes the feeling of Pandits and Muslims alike who want to live together in peace and harmony. "It is unfortunate that the issue is being politicized. These colonies will never benefit Pandits. We cannot have everything in these colonies. Our children will have to go to universities, so would there be universities in these separate colonies? Some of us may need special treatment, would there be super specialty hospitals in the colonies?" he said.
He said the Pandits do not want to live in separate colonies and would love to return to their native places and live with their Muslim brethren.
"See, we cannot live in the separate colonies. We have to go out. We would want to visit places like Nishat Garden and Gulmarg. We cannot have such places in our colonies. We have to go out and mingle with the majority community." "We would want our Muslim friends to come over to our places and vice-versa. What purpose will these separate colonies serve?" he questioned.
Vishen said the majority community can ensure the safety and security of Pandits but making separate living spaces will drive a wedge between the communities. "I was being protected by the majority community. Pandits living in Muslim mohallas faced no threat. Our Muslim friends were always there for us," he said. Another Kashmiri Pandit, Omkar Pajnoo, who has been living in his ancestral home in downtown area of Srinagar, said he faced no harm or threats all these years.
"The government is not serious about the return of the Pandits. It is all politics. It is a ploy by the government to create fear among them (Pandits) to make sure that they do not return to the Valley," Pajnoo said. Calling the idea of separate colonies "not feasible", he said they do not want to live separately as they do not want more division.
He said all Kashmiris were brothers and there was no difference between Muslims and Hindus.
"A true Muslim cannot be communal as he understands Quran. We lived in harmony and want to live in harmony. There is no difference between Muslims and Hindus," Pajnoo, who himself has read the holy book of Islam, said.
He said there was no hatred among the communities here and Pandits cannot live in segregation. "This place is spiritual. We have the prayers of our sufis and saints," he added.
Narrating an incident which symbolized the communal harmony in Kashmir, Pajnoo said, in 1996 militants helped a Pandit trader re-open his shop in Srinagar and guarded it like their own. "My friend was a cloth merchant. He had a shop here but after he left the Valley, the shop was shut. He was running another shop near a Mosque in Jammu. In 1996, some militants went to Jammu and persuaded him to return along with his family. "He returned to find his shop as he had left that. The militants not only guarded his shop but filled that with merchandise for him to restart his business. Not only that, his son opened another shop in the locality and both are doing business there. Such was the love, admiration and respect for each other," he said.
Pajnoo said he still gets invites on special occasions from his Muslim friends.
"We loved to eat at each others' places. I still get invites. My friends call me to their places often. I just got an invite from a friend in Batamaloo here who invited me for an-all-vegetarian-meal to celebrate the urs (death anniversary) of a famous Muslim saint 'Batamaloo Sahab' who used to eat only vegetarian food," he said. Like Vishen and Pajnoo, another Kashmiri Pandit, Dileep Ji - a trader in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk here - said no Pandit would want to live separately as only Muslims would instill a sense of security among them. |
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