B L Saraf
Pursuant to the 2024 Assembly election result, the National Conference in alliance with I.N.D.I.A block has formed Government in Jammu and Kashmir. Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the National Conference, assumed charge as head of administration. Soon after assuming charge he announced that his Government will carry all sections of the society along with and do equal justice to them, irrespective of their voting preferences. The assurance was held out in view of the fractured poll verdict which revealed a significant political cleavage between the two regions. While as National Conference (NC) nearly swept the Valley with few noticeable wins in some pockets of Jammu region, the BJP garnered nearly all seats in plains of the Jammu region. The poll arithmetic dictated that BJP won’t be on the treasury benches.That meant majority of the people in Jammu region will go unrepresented in the Government. Hence the necessity of an assurance which , indeed, is a welcome development.
The Chief Ministers assurance to the Jammu people has rekindled a hope among the internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits that their ” ownership rights ” too will be restored. They have been living in wilderness since 1990 , scattered all over the place. What they hope for now ought to have flowed to them, naturally, as provided by the constitution of country, having regard to the history and geography of J&K of which they are an inseparable part. Kashmiri Pandit community (KPs for short) has had the story and a recognition. But, today, when we look into what lies deep inside and the drastic changes the KPs story has suffered the world may find it hard to understand. With their post 1990 situation and as things stand with them today, the entire Pandit community is now walking on a path of an irresistible trajectory with the foregone conclusion of their collective destiny as that of fading into the history as a lost community. After more than three decades of their forced expulsion from Kashmir now many have almost lost hope of their home return – the miniscule KP community will be on its way to extinction.
The need of a home place can best be understood if one cares to have a look at the anthropological studies which reveal that it is the land one belongs to which holds firm his marks of identity and physical and social characteristics. KPs feel that CM Omar Abdullah will appreciate the matter in this perspective and initiate measures for restoration of homeland to them, after addressing their security, economic and political issues and taking them in the confidence. We are, nevertheless, conscious of the fact that KP’s longish exile has complicated their ‘ Ghar Wapsi ‘. Such a situation calls for a calibrated approach to resolve the issue.
It is a matter of some satisfaction that KPs concerns have been duly recognized by the N C Government in 1997 and 2009- led, respectively, by Dr Farooq Abdullah and you — when The Migrant Immovable Proper ( Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales ) Act was passed in 1997 (shortly the Act 1997) and A Bill for Care, Protection and Management of Hindu Temples in Kashmir ( Bill No 11 / 2009) was introduced in the Assembly.
Tribunal Required
The practice has shown that the Distress Sales Act couldn’t stem the rot, despite various efforts of the successive Governments. In 2021 the UT Government set up a Portal to ensure protection of the immovable assets left in Kashmir by the internally displaced persons . Provisions of The Act, 1997 were invoked. However, the Portal didn’t yield desired results. Latest order of Honourable High Court clubbing together for disposal dozens of matters, having arisen under the Act, is one such example. To put teeth to the Act and ensure speedy disposal of the cases there is need to have a Tribunal armed with special powers to deal with such cases in a summary manner.
PM Package Employees
The employees appointed under PM Package have been serving the Valley people, since 2011. Their service progression issues remain still unresolved: most of them don’t have safe accommodation and those who have it that doesn’t cater to their basic requirements.
Need for the law to protect Religious places of Hindus in Kashmir
Many Hindu religious places in the Valley have been destroyed and their properties encroached upon. Among other reasons, they suffered for having no statutory safeguard which could have fastened a strict duty on the State to protect them from the onslaught. It may be pertinent to say here that there are laws for protection and proper management of Mosques and Gurdhwaras. The onset of militancy in the Valley nearly obliterated these signs of the Hindu community as nobody among the Hindus was left in Kashmir to look after them.
The vagaries of weather and the unscrupulous elements, with the patronage of the powerful persons, played havoc with their invaluable assets and spiritual sanctity. In this regard the concern was raised. As stated above, appreciating the concern, the NC lead Government introduced the Bill in Assembly’s Budget Session of 2009, as Bill No 2 / 2009. Unfortunately, for no reasons, it could not be passed in the legislature and lapsed with the expiry of the term of the previous Assembly.
Big Confidence Building Measure
The Government of India and the State Government are striving hard to ensure return of the Displaced Community to the Valley. The Hindus of Kashmir feel that the enactment of the Law for Protection Of Hindu Shrines and Religious Paces will be a significant measure to instill confidence in the Displaced Community to think of return to Kashmir.
The displaced community may have to think that it is no wisdom to live perennially in a time warp, as hostage to the history. Attempt has to be made to cut through the mesh woven around the thought process and unshackle mental prejudices, so as to judge things in an evolving perspective.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge )
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