B L Saraf
The two week delay in disbursement of relief to the displaced persons – of whom the Kashmiri Pandits constitute a bulk – has, apart from inflicting pain and misery to the relief holders, given rise to many questions which beg answer and brought myriad things to the fore necessitating a dispassionate introspection, thereon. Reasons for the delay in disbursement should be examined and responsibility thereof must be fixed, lest similar situation arises in the future. The matter, however, is left to the other day .
What strikes the mind , as a foremost matter to ponder over in the wake of delayed disbursement of relief ,is that should the community even after 32 years in exile be dependent upon the peanuts doled out as relief ? And should the Governments of the day -Central and local act only as doles dispenser and be satisfied with devising ‘Portals’ and tell the community, which is on the verge of extinction, make use of them to register the grievances? While as former situation depicts an acute helplessness latter tells a pathetic tale of indifference of the powers that be. Well, Portal exercise may help retrieve some lost assets and to that extent it is a welcome development, but the displaced community doesn’t have grievances. It is faced with a serious existential crises, for resolving it demonstration of sincere commitment, time bound action and a strong political will on the part of those who run the Governments are required .
Well, none can take Government completely out of living as it has crept in every sphere of his life. In J&K context, it is unthinkable to exist without state’s intervention in some vital aspects. But then to come out of the demeaning situations which the relief holders are often thrown in ,it will not be a bad idea to look beyond Government, particularly, where private initiative may come in handy. Therefore , it is high time that the displaced KP community got its act together and start making some self introspection. How long can the community get repeatedly degraded and dehumanized with total dependence on meager government doles? And how long should the displaced Pandits be dependent on state to provide succor? After all every state has the constraints of resources. State may intrude into everything of its citizens but no State, anywhere in the world, can provide everything to them . Then , it doesn’t make a good picture to be always in a queue for the doles .
KPs may not possess commercial ingenuity matching the Parsis, but certainly they don’t lag behind them in terms of highly skilled human resource, a cosmopolitan outlook and a strong sense of adaptability to the place and circumstances . Never the less, there is a lot to be learnt from Parsis. Their commitment to the social causes, sense of community brotherhood, contribution to the nation’s development and urge to help one another in times of need marks them out .Here, one is reminded of an essay written by a very respected and knowledgeable commentator in a national daily when Cove shield Vaccine was rolled out, in December 2020 . He underscored how the miniscule Parsi Community has been serving national well in all fields, besides bringing prosperity to itself. He felt indebted, as indeed the whole nation ought to be , to this community at a time when deadly CARONA 19 was devouring people in thousands : and pointed out that the Vaccine producer , vile manufacturer , the storage facilitator at a regulated temperature ( refrigeration) and its transporter (vehicle builder) were all Parsis namely, Adhaar Poonawala , Godrej and Tata , respectively.
The young and promising of the displaced community can show the way. Because, they have immense potential to change the course of the fellow compatriots. The whole world has noticed how did they overcome various traumas and tribulations and by the dint of hard work created a niche for themselves in various spheres of life, across the globe. The success story of KP Diaspora across countries tells a lot about community’s ingenuity -a fact often alluded to by the men in authority, sometimes in awe sometimes putting tongue in cheek – when approached to relieve the community of various ailments it has acquired in enforced exile . It is only a question of making these young men /women conscious of their social responsibility so that their resources could be harnessed for creating an economic well being to relieve the financial distress of fellow community members. Even locally the community could bear this responsibility. If we can create assets, in the shape of Ashrams and Temples, by mobilization hundreds of cores of Rupees, within, in Jammu and elsewhere what stops community to bear some social responsibility towards the needy amongst it. It doesn’t give a good account of the displaced community when someone notices these assets and then sees thousands of fellow members sweating on the roads in atrocious whether condition just for few hundreds.
We have concerned ourselves more with what is happening in UP, Maharashtra and W. Bengal and notions of ‘hyper nationalism ‘ than with issues which are existential for the community . For long, we have overburdened ourselves with the politics that plays on across the Continents .We have opinion on everything under the Sun and spend huge time in dispensing it, unsolicited ,but fail to diagnose what ails us internally. It is time we all begin to think what we owe the progeny – if not to ourselves – rather than what we owe the politicians who, with some exceptions , have miserably failed us.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
