While the Hurriyat might be talking about Kashmiri Pandits returning to the Valley, for many in the beleaguered community, a return trip to the land they abandoned many years ago, is still out of question. The massacres of their brethren, the propaganda against the Hindus and their brutal eviction from the land continues to rankle the Pandits. They claim that most leaders who have talked about the return haven't bothered about their plight in refugee camps. Mohit Kandari gets the pulse of the Pandit community
When leaders of Hurriyat's moderate faction waited outside their party headquarters in Srinagar to garland some lesser known representatives of Kashmiri Pandits, most of the displaced community could not believe its eyes and ears.
These so-called representatives were travelling to Kashmir for the first time in 16 years to prepare a roadmap for a safe journey back to their homeland.
When we asked Usha Dutta, a 45-year-old widow and mother of three children, one of whom is mentally challenged, whether she approves of returning to the Valley, she said: "I have already lost my husband to Muslim zealots in Kashmir. Now, I don't want my children to face the hardships and uncertainties of life."
Dutta's story is one of great pathos. She lost her husband when she was only 31. One chilly night 16 years ago, militants threw the dead body of her husband, Baldev Raj Dutta, outside their house near Exchange Road in Srinagar.
An emotional Dutta recounts: "My husband was a loyal employee of the famous Pladium cinema in Srinagar. But militants forced the theatres in the Valley to close and my husband was forced to take to repairing electronic appliances to make ends meet. Insurgency had reached its peak then and the Islamic order had become a way of life, with mosques blaring out venomous and provocative propaganda.
"On January 16, 1991, a few men dressed in traditional Kashmiri gowns, came to him and asked him to accompany them to their house to repair their television set. My husband refused, and asked them to bring the TV set to his shop. But the men kidnapped and tortured him for two days.
"Three days later, we found his body outside our house with cigarette butt marks and bruise injuries all over him. All hell broke loose. The militants pasted posters outside our house demanding that we move out of the Valley immediately. They threatened to kill the rest of the family if we didn't comply. There was no security cover in the area and I had no male member in the family to turn for protection.
"A few neighbours helped me perform my husband's last rites and two days later, I left Kashmir and came to Jammu along with my parents. Since then, I have been living here in the migrant camp."
Dutta's son, Pawan, is working with a local cable operator and has not been accommodated by the State Government under SRO-43 in a Government job. The explanation offered is that Dutta is not a bonafide State subject holder, because she hails from Amritsar in Punjab. That's reason enough for them to stop her relief payment and ration supplies as well.
These days, she spends most of her time doing the rounds of the office of the Relief Commissioner, with little thought on her mind that some parties in Kashmir are talking about returning to the Valley on behalf of the Kashmiri Pandits.
"I will not go there in my lifetime," she thunders angrily. "Militants are solely responsible for my miseries. I will not forgive them. They have ruined my life."
Ask her why the leaders of her community are willing to walk an extra mile in their quest for peace, and she says, "These are paid agents and have very little to do with the real sufferers. Ask them to visit this migrant camp sometime. I can bet that they won't be able to stay here for more than 10 minutes."
Then, there is Maharaj Krishan, who runs a small photo studio from his one-room accommodation in the Muthi migrant camp. He believes that the ongoing talks between the Hurriyat and the so-called representatives of Kashmiri Pandits will not bear fruit.
"Some of our leaders have gone to Kashmir to hold initial talks to discuss the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley. It is shameful. This should not have happened. What we are trying to tell the world outside the migrant camps is that we have made up our minds to forgive those people who are responsible for our pathetic state of affairs."
For Krishan, the death of his father at the hands of the militants still rankles. "I cannot forget how these people killed my father near Kokernag while my mother was hospitalised in Udhampur. For three days, I was running from pillar to post to get her admitted in a hospital, but due to curfew and security problems, I decided to shift her to Jammu. When her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to a hospital in Udhampur. Meanwhile, we heard that my father Narinjan Nath Rishi had been shot. He was alone when this happened. My brother rushed to the Valley and I stayed back in Udhampur to take care of our mother. But violence had escalated so much that my brother couldn't reach on time. Our neighbours performed my father's last rites. We couldn't even see him for the last time," he says, bitterly.
So what does he think of the dialogue process? He says, "First, we have to know what the agenda of the talks is. We need to debate all these issues before thinking of returning to Kashmir. Even the separatist leaders have not promised security cover to those willing to return.
"I fail to understand when the Chief Minister himself moves around with tight security arrangements and feels insecure, how can he ensure security for Kashmiri Pandits?"
He adds: "The Government is trying to create an impression that since peace talks are on and Kashmiri Pandits are also engaged in the dialogue process, their return to the valley is just a matter of time. Take my word, this will never happen, atleast in our lifetime. The return of a handful of Pandits to Kashmir should not be construed as the return of normalcy."
Commenting on the presence of a few Kashmir leaders in Kashmir on July 19, he said, "None of the so-called representatives of Kashmiri Pandits, who stood along side Hurriyat leaders, had ever visited our camps or listened to our plight. Now if they say they had the mandate to speak on our behalf, it is up to them to decide on what basis they are making such statements and misleading the community."
The story of Rajinder Kaul, the son of an army officer is no different. Kaul's family migrated early in 1989 as their village witnessed carnages and posters were pasted outside each house saying that they should move out of the valley within 48 hours or face death. Kaul's father and uncles were lucky to have managed to move out of the Valley safely.
But a few days later, when one of his uncles, Brijnath Kaul went to Kashmir to complete certain official formalities, he was kidnapped by militants and cut to pieces in Kulgam, the hot bed of militancy. His last rites couldn't be performed by the family.
Says Kaul, "We had no earning member in the family back then. My father had retired in 1988 and was receiving a paltry sum of Rs 532 as monthly pension. I was studying in Kashmir University and my sister was also a student."
Kaul's miseries multiplied when his father went missing in 1997 from Jammu. Till date, the family doesn't know what happened to him.
"We registered an FIR but eight years on, he is still untraceable. My mother died of shock after waiting for him for a year. She died on the same day that he had gone missing."
Is he willing to go back to Kashmir? Kaul takes a deep breath, and shoots back, "It is like giving us slow poison. Both Mufti and Hurriyat are responsible for our abysmal state of affairs. I remember the day when six militants were released by the Government to secure the release of Mufti's daughter. There was a huge procession in the heart of the city. How can we forget those days when mosques in every nook and corner boomed with pro-jehad and anti-Kaffir (anti-Hindu) slogans, speeches, sermons and discourses?"
For Kaul, nothing less than a separate homeland would do. "Both the State and the Centre are misleading the people. Militancy has gone up ever since the clamour for peace talks has gained momentum. The killings have started, car bombs have exploded outside school buildings, infiltration has gone up. It is like returning to hell," he says.
And what does he think about the peace talks? "Sab bakwas hai. There are a few Kashmiris who are acting as agents and minting money from various agencies without improving our conditions. Until we too, pick the guns, no one will listen to us."
We caught 77-year-old Radha Krishan
just before he was stepping out for his evening walk. "I cannot dream of
holding talks with separatists at whose behest ethnic cleansing started
in the valley. My brother-in-law was hanged and one of my friends was dragged
with his hands tied to a vehicle till he breathed his last. In 1947, Kabali
invaders forced us to eat beef and in 1990, they killed our brethren to
inject terror in our minds. We cannot have parleys with them till we are
alive." Are the so-called representatives of the Pandits listening?