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The Prime Minister showed much sensitivity in visiting the poor,
foresaken Kashmiri migrants at Nagrota on his first trip outside the
capital. It must have boosted the morale of the migrants who had come
to believe that they were God's forgotten children because they can
neither make much noise being busy earning a living nor canvass
political support because they are not able to sway elections. They
resent being called migrants. How can they be migrants in their own
country? At best they should be called displaced persons. Mr Gujral
surely understands their misery because he too had suffered similarly.
That a refugee like him should come to become Prime Minister should
bring hope to people in this country who suffered a similar fate.
When we speak of migrants we should not only speak or Pandits. There
are also a good number of Muslims who hive suffered. In the early days
of terrorism, the militants, surely under ISI instructions, thought that
they should communalise the situation and ethnically cleanse the Kashmir
Valley. If this was done, the militants thought, it would be easy for
the pro-Pakistan forces to take over an entirely Muslim area. But it
did not work out like that. Many Muslims too did not join the
pro-Pakistan forces. Some of them had earlier asked their Pandit
neighbours and friends not to leave and assured them that they would
guard them. But when the situation worsened, they asked the Pandits to
go because they admitted that they could not protect them any more.
When most of the Pandits had left, the militants swooped on their
co-religionists, mostly those who they thought might he supporting
India, like workers of the Congress, the National Conference, the BJP
and the Communists, Government employees and those who believed that
their future lay with India or those they suspected of cooperating with
the Government by telling them about militant hideouts.
The militants now started targeting them. Many of them were killed in
cold blood. The Mirwaiz of Kashmir, the Mirwaiz of South Kashmir and
many members of the old legislative-assembly were done away with. The
militants visited the people at all hours, for shelter, for food, for
money, for rape and to take away girls in forced marriage. Those people
who could afford it sent Away their boys and girls. Some of the
families took refuge in Jammu, Delhi, Bombay and other towns. They are
also migrants.
The Pandits kept their heads afloat by grabbing whatever means
livelihood they could get. The Muslims took the benefit of the secular
Indians by parading their localities, despite the atrocities in Kashmir,
to sell famed Kashmiri handicrafts. This breadth of vision of the Indian
will one day be cited as one of the causes of the normalisation of the
situation.
With the holding of the elections, the situation seemed to improve. The
situation would have gone on improving but the ISI would not have not
like that. It could not let Kashmir slip away like this. The killings
have gone on. Although there is a popular Government, the security
agencies and the Government have not been able to control the situation.
It should be conceded that the migrants, the Pandits and the Muslims,
must ultimately go back for until that happens in peace and honour, the
Kashmir situation will not be said to have normalised. But they cannot
go back if they cannot live and work in safety. Most Kashmiris want to
go back. They pine for the homes and the social life they lived in
Kashmir. The remedies are not easy to suggest. Perhaps the best step
would be to let the migrants return in small numbers, feel the pulse and
if possible, encourage others to come in. Much will depend on how fast
the situation improves. The relaxed atmosphere between India and
Pakistan may help. The recent Durbar move from Jammu to Srinagar, when
a large number of employees moved to the Valley while the snows melted
and the passes opened, may give an inkling.
No need to empty the treasury for Kashmiris are hard-working people
given to few luxuries. Bit certain steps could be taken. The people who
have been killed by terrorists and those who have been maimed have been
given no' special help. If the Sikhs who were murdered in the 1984
riots and the Hajis who were burnt in the fire in Mecca were
compensated, why not those who got killed by terrorists?
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