Time for Kashmiri Pandits to come back home with dignity

In 1995, the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) in its historical full commission judgment, headed by former chief justice of India MN Venkatachaliah, held the systematic ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits by terrorists as an act of genocide. 

Recently, on the recommendations of the state administration, the ministry of home affairs (MHA), while banning separatist outfits, described ethnic cleansing and the purge of Kashmiri Pandits as the principal reason for banning separatists and terror outfits operating in Kashmir.

The admission by the state government and MHA through the Union home secretary in public domain makes it obligatory for the state government to accede to the repeated demand for a thorough investigation by the Pandits. The exiled Kashmiri Pandits have called upon the government to appoint a high-level commission of inquiry.

There are very strong grounds to set up a commission of inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to be assisted by DGP, Director IB, Director CBI and DG NIA, to probe into murders, loot, rapes, forcible land and property grabbing of Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindu religious endowments across the Valley.

In Jammu and Kashmir, there are layer upon layers of distortions of history, self-serving myths and competing political interests. Peeling off these layers by revisiting history, without any prejudice, can only help in our search for a brighter tomorrow for Jammu and Kashmir.

The J&K policy needs to combine between what the country pursues as domestic policy on one hand and the treatment of Indo-Pakistan relations as foreign policy, on the other. 

The return of the exiled Pandits back to the Kashmir Valley with pride, is a matter of enforcing India’s Constitution in Kashmir, both nationally and at the global stage. It is important to restore and protect multiculturalism, plural ethos and the secular identity of India and the Jammu and Kashmir state. 

Return, restitution and retention of exiled Pandits as a religious Hindu community, shall be the real test of the will of the central government and the governor’s administration.

No solution to Kashmir will make any headway unless the Pandits are rehabilitated, return to the Valley and are made part of the dialogue process as an important stakeholder.

It is the constitutional and political duty of the government of India and the Jammu and Kashmir government to repatriate the entire exiled Pandit community back to their homeland.  It is also their duty to probe the reasons and circumstances of ethnic cleansing, fixing the responsibility for the killing of innocent citizens. 

Governor Rule gives all statutory powers to the state government to do justice to this illustrious community, who are now living as refugees in their own country for the last 30 years.

It is hoped that the central government shall revisit its J&K policy by demonstrating political will and large-heartedness in dealing with the Kashmir situation and liberally fund the return, rehabilitation and security of Kashmiri Pandits back in their homeland, which is the Kashmir Valley.

To quote what former Prime Minister IK Gujral once said, “For the illustrious Kashmiri Pandit community, which has contributed a great deal in shaping the nation building a democratic, progressive and secular India, if the coffers of the country are to be emptied for them, it would still be a small price to pay.”

It is important for the state governor to rise above civil service jargon while designing a package for the return of Kashmiri Pandits. It is also imperative to hold consultations with representatives of Kashmiri Pandits, so that all aspects are taken into account and the entire gamut of present and future problems analysed threadbare and in complete detail.

Kashmiri Pandits are a religious minority, which calls for due statutory recognition. The constitution of a state minority commission shall be a good step in this direction.

The MHA being the nodal ministry, shall start a structured dialogue with Pandits, for designing a comprehensive, time-bound package for return and rehabilitation. It shall not take more than two to three years for its implementation.

Pandits believe that if the exiled community is not repatriated back to their homeland with dignity and pride now, then it will never happen again.

The author is a senior lawyer