Driven out of their Himalayan homeland, Kashmiri Pandits are keenly awaiting the final draft of the new plan from the BJP government to resettle them in the Valley. But it will not be an easy task as The Tribune assesses the ground reality

Jammu, June 4
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to re-examine the plan to rehabilitate 3.50 lakh displaced Hindus in the Kashmir valley has sparked off a debate on the “model” Modi will adopt to achieve this. The Pandits fled the Valley at the onset of separatist insurgency in 1990 after terrorists started targeting minorities.

On April 25, 2008, the previous UPA government led by Manmohan Singh had announced a Rs 1,618-crore employment-cum-rehabilitation package for the displaced Pandits but not a single family was able to return to the Valley primarily because of security concerns and lack of initiative by the state and Central governments to execute the plan properly.

While the living conditions of thousands of oustees settled in Jammu camps have improved following the construction of two-room flats at Muthi, Purkhoo, Nagrota and Jagti, their eventual return to the Valley still remains a distant dream.

The employment package offered to the Hindu youth for resettlement in the Valley did see around 1,500 youngsters joining work between 2011 and 2012, but it failed to bring them back to their original villages and towns as they preferred to put up in transit accommodation.

“The earlier model failed because there was no clarity on part of the Centre as well as the state on implementation. Even the employment package was not fully executed. Security is an issue. Money alone cannot bring back displaced people who were targeted by terrorists in 1990,” says Surinder Krishan Bhat, who originally belongs to Zewan village on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Return package needs a review as a majority of houses were burnt down, sold or encroached upon by land mafia. The property that escaped the fury of conflict was exposed to the vagaries of nature.

“Much has changed in villages and towns and rebuilding our lives again will be a challenge, especially when a generation has spent their entire life in the squalid camps of Jammu.

The concept of a separate homeland needs to be debated. Any new plan needs a clear view on security, especially at a time when even elected sarpanches and panches are not feeling safe,” says Mahesh Koul, a social activist and research scholar at Jammu University.

• Housing aid of Rs 7.5 lakh for fully or partially damaged houses, Rs 2 lakh for dilapidated/unused house, Rs 7 lakh for purchase/construction of a house in group housing societies
• New two-room units constructed between 2006-10 at Muthi, Purkhoo, Nagrota and Jagti to provide good living conditions to ousted people before the return process starts
• Around 3,000 posts created and separate rules notified for the Pandit youth under the employment scheme