Migrants' Return to Valley

O N Bhat Kuthari

Tational Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, while addressing the workers of is party at Jammu Airport on his arrival from Delhi advocated the return of migrants to the valley He made an unequivocal demand for restoration of pre-1953 position for the State to provide succour to the people of the valley who have suffered a lot during the last six years of Pak-aided and abetted militancy, insurgency, terrorism and other subversive acts. They have suffered if losses by the violent jihad unleashed in oration since 1989. According to him, restoration of pre 1953 status will have aling touch on the healing sufferings of the people in the valley and assuage their hurt feelings He lays stress on the restoration of 1952-position for ushering in an era of peace restoration of pre and normalcy in the valley Restoration 1953 position has been made the pre-condition for his party's participation in the elections to the State Assembly This shows his grave concern and sympathy for the suffering people in the valley and his plans for their rehabilitation and development.

But as is evident, the worst sufferers of violent Islamic jihad in Kashmir are the Kashmiri Pandits who were hounded out of their homes and hearths by the trigger-happy fundamentalists At gun point. they were asked to leave the valley, the birth place of their forefathers The brutal killings, rape, abductions and destruction of property shocked and frightened this microscopic minority. The cold blooded murder of hundreds of innocent Kashmiri Pandits culminated in the mass exodus of this peace loving community from the valley to Jammu and other cities of the country where they are living under subhuman conditions as refugees in their own country.

The migrant word has been coined for this miserable community in exile instead of calling them "internally displaced persons" They have lost everything. The community is passing through the darkest period of its five thousand years of history and is on the brim of extinction. Justice demands that the victimised community in exile. must be resettled and rehabilitated with honour and security at their native places of birth in the valley before any voice is raised for elections in the State. It would have been proper and logical on the part of Dr. Abdullah to make the return of migrants to Kashmir as a pre-condition for his party's participation in the elections in the State To favour the return of migrants to the valley without a time-bound programme, is only a lip service to the community in distress. The demand is a cry in the wilderness without fixing the specific time-limit. The community has been listening to the music of these demands made by various leaders for the last six years.

The return of displaced persons to the valley with honour and security must be the first and foremost clause in any political package granted by the Centre to the State of J&K. Safe and dignified resettlement of the displaced community in the valley alone will be the sign of peace and normalcy in the valley. Free, fair and impartial elections are only possible when this community is resettled and rehabilitated in the valley. It is the duty of the government to create suitable conditions for the electorate to cast their votes freely and fearlessly. Depriving any citizen of his or her fundamental right to vote amounts to violation of the sanctity of the constitution. Asking this community to cast votes in exile is adding insult to their injury. How can they exercise their right of franchise when they have been deprived of the basic and fundamental right to live in their age old homes? It will be sheer mockery and shame to ask these migrants living in tattered tents and leaking one-room tenements to cast their votes in favour of the candidates living in their posh homes

in their constituencies in the valley Under such prevailing conditions, the community in exile is left with only one alternative and that is to boycott the elections.

It is the moral, social and political responsibility of all the leaders of national and local political parties to formulate a unified plan for the return of migrants to the valley under a fixed time-bound programme

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Courtesy:- O N Bhat Kuthari and February 1996 Koshur Samachar