Pandits still await ‘healing touch’

As internal squabbling within the PDP and BJP delays formation of a government in Jammu and Kashmir, 3.5 lakh displaced Pandits are still awaiting the ‘healing touch’ to resettle in the Valley.
A majority of Pandits feel apprehensive about the fate of the rehabilitation package announced by successive governments at the Centre.
No political party in the state has shown the urgency to speed up resettlement and rehabilitation of the minority community, forced to leave the Valley in 1989-90 after the eruption of armed insurgency.
There was much enthusiasm after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in May 2014 and the BJP became a part of the government in the state headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on March 1, 2015.
There was hope that some new model would be announced, but no major initiative was taken. The previous National Conference-Congress government had been slow in implementing the package announced in 2005 and 2008.
In turn, the return of Pandits almost brought the coalition partners at loggerheads on several occasions since the formation of the PDP-BJP government in the state last year, which lasted 10 months till the demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7.
“With a new political arrangement in the state, there is a lot of apprehension in the community about how the new government will take up the issues confronting the exiled minority community, which finds mention in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ of the coalition partners,” said Rashneek Kher, a social activist and writer.
The ‘Agenda of Alliance’ agreed upon between the PDP and BJP had mentioned social and humanitarian initiatives to solve the issue confronting the community and take steps for their resettlement in the Valley. No debate was initiated on how to take the first step in this direction.
During the 10-month rule, coalition partners remained silent on the promises made in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, the guiding document which binds the two ideologically separate parties.
“It was only during Governor’s rule that Pandits felt that their misery would end after Governor NN Vohra directed officials to take time-bound action for their relief and rehabilitation. The approach of the new government remains to be seen,” said RK Bhat, president of the Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj.