@satishmahaldar
New Delhi: There is a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah by not implementing the approved recommendations of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to fill the vacant posts against the PM Package towards the return and rehabilitation of the Kashmiri migrants.
The MHA issued a reminder letter to the J&K Union territory Administration on June 23, 2020 to expedite the process as soon as possible. (Reference to MHA letter No 12013/6/2014 dated December 4, 2015). However, till date nothing has happened.
Also pending is the recruitment process, even after the selection process for the appointment of eligible candidates from the Kashmiri Pandit community has been completed a long time ago.
Sanjay Tickoo, president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti
(KPSS) is on fast till death since September 20. His demand is to implement the orders in letter and spirit.
We are requesting the Union Territory (UT) administration to implement the High Court and MHA order in letter and spirit so that the deprived members of the minority community get relief to sustain and survive.
It is an irony that no official or the government in UT or the Centre is paying heed to the genuine demands of the Kashmiri Pandits. This has once again proven the apathetic attitude of those at the helm of affairs.
Not just the past three decades, Kashmiri Pandits have been suffering for the past 70 years on account of the denial of democratic, religious and cultural rights in Kashmir. Despite, raising the issue several times and even paying heavily by getting uprooted from our homeland and facing genocide/ethnic cleansing, no government in power has given us relief and assurance in practicality.
The total neglect of Tickoo’s protest by the J&K administration is also an example of the same attitude.
We, the Kashmiri Pandit community have full faith in the Central government’s motto of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas”.
Our beleaguered community, which is the first victim of terrorism in Kashmir for being patriotic, has been suffering for the past three decades in exile. We always believed that we would be helped by the government. Many promises have been made to us in all these 31 years, but the community has not seen a concrete policy that talks about our economic upliftment, educational and constitutional guarantees and our return to the valley.
The GOI has not done anything for our Physical & Economic rehabilitation, relief and welfare till date. We feel that we have been betrayed. Our constitutional and fundamental rights have not been protected.
We would like to draw your attention to a few issues concerning us.
These are specified here:
0n June 14, 2019, Volunteer 419 Kashmiri Pandit families had been promised land and house in Kashmir as part of the Return and Rehabilitation process, but nothing has been done in this regard till date. The list had been submitted to the then Home minister of India, J&K Governor and to the Honorable Prime Minister’s Office.
Over six years have passed for the Modi-led government at the Centre, but no proposal has been made by the Government of India for the Return and Rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley.
We urge Government of India (GoI) to immediately allocate Rs 3,00,000 crore budget towards the physical and economic rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandit Migrants in the current financial year with special provision that includes the cost of minimum one kanal land and towards construction of four-bedroom house to each Kashmiri Pandit Migrant family. We urge the GoI to immediately notify the land towards the physical rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits across the 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley.
The Kashmiri Pandit Migrants should be rehabilitated as per their parliamentary constituencies specified on their Migrants Cards. We also urge the GoI immediately to sanction minimum 300 acres of land which should be allocated / reserved for Kashmiri Pandit Migrants who want to set up industry in Kashmir at a nominal cost. The Kashmir Pandit professionals / entrepreneurs are very keen to invest in Tourism, Hospitality, Agriculture, Education, Medicinal Plants, Health and Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, IT and ITES, Renewable Energy & other sectors.
We urge GoI to set up an SIT team to probe into the killings of innocent Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley since 1989 onwards and also probe who were responsible for the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. The SIT should be headed by a retired Supreme court Judge.
For the protection of the Art and Culture of the Kashmiri Pandits, we want one exclusive art and culture building along with Amphitheatre in which Pandits can display their art, culture and literature. The exile from Kashmir is threatening the traditions, culture, old scriptures / literature, and heritage.
We also urge the GoI to sanction 30 acres of land towards setting up of the Sharda University in Kashmir. Sharda University once was regarded as the pride of Kashmir (Asia) in teaching Vedic literature of Hinduism, Ayush and spirituality. We request the Government of India (GoI) to sanction Rs 100 crores towards setting up the university in Kashmir.
This would help us to revive the ancient heritage of the entire Asia & J&K state. Over the decades, our constitutional, democratic and fundamental rights have not been protected, being a minority in Kashmir Valley.
Supreme courts Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).489/2016 dated March 12, 2018 in which the honorable Supreme Court directed the Union of India and the then State of Jammu and Kashmir to set up the State Minority Commission. Till date the order has not been implemented. We seek minority status for Kashmiri Pandits with minimum 10 % reservation within the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
We urge GoI the 2021census be considered before proceeding for the delimitation process as we all are aware that most of the names of most of the Kashmiri Pandits have been illegally deleted from the electoral rolls of Kashmir. Thus our democratic rights have been ignored. We request GoI that all migrants’ names should be enrolled in the electoral list of Kashmir as per their rehabilitation policies within the parliamentary constituencies.-By Satish Mahaldar
The author Satish Mahaldar can be contacted at mahaldar@suntelecomltd.com
