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| Why will KPs not return to Kashmir? | | Homeland the solution | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 6: The Government of India on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that there was no plan before it to create exclusive zones for Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) in the Valley. Replying to a question put by no less than nine MPs whether there was any proposal to create separate zones for Kashmiri pandits in the Valley, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said, "No proposal to create separate zones exclusively for the Kashmiri pandits in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is under consideration".
The statement of the Home Ministry came two days after the KPs held a massive rally at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, to attract the attention of the powers-that-be in the national capital and register their emphatic protest against Kashmiri separatists and "mainstream" Kashmiri leaders who had opposed the Union Government's and the Mufti Government's move to set up settlements for the displaced KPs. They not only opposed the idea of establishing townships exclusively for the KPs, but also opposed the modified proposal.
The modified proposal said the state government will allot 50 acres of land in Kashmir for the establishment of a composite township. It also said that 50 per cent of the houses in the composite township will be reserved for the KPs and 50 per cent for Kashmiri Muslims, Sikhs and Ladakhis. Significantly, all in Kashmir, barring the PDP, have rejected the composite township proposal. In fact, the separatists, the National Conference and many others in Kashmir have held protest demonstrations against the proposed composite township. The Jantar Mantar rally, which was a setback for the Sangh Parivar as the Panun Kashmir activists outnumbered those representing the RSS and the BJP, sent a strong signal to the Union Government that the KPs will not accept anything short of separate homeland in the Valley that was invested with Union Territory status and where the Indian Constitution - minus Article 370 flows freely. Besides, the authorities in New Delhi were candidly told that they could not decide their fate in consultation with the Kashmiri leadership and that they were the chief determinants as they were the affected community. Their refrain was that they will not go to Kashmir to resettle in those cities, towns and villages they vacated in early 1990 and that the situation in Kashmir was worse than what it was in 1990. If the authorities in the State and at the Centre sincerely wish the rehabilitation of the KPs in the Valley, they have no other option but to concede their demand for separate homeland in the Valley. |
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