Welcome Back, After The Break!

T N Dhar Kundan

November1996, Koshur Samachar

Recent elections to the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly resulting in an impressive mandate in the recent history of our State. Even though a large segment of our community continues to live in exile and could not participate effectively in the electoral process, we join our peace-loving brothers and sisters in the Valley in extending warm felicitations to Dr. Abdullah on once again assuming the reins of governance in the trouble-torn State after a break of seven long years.

Dr. Abdullah, who had, after resigning from the Chief Ministership in 1990 following the outbreak of militancy, got considerably distanced from the people because of his pro- longed spells of absence from the Valley and earned the sobriquet of a globe-trotter, has overnight regained lost ground and established himself as the most acceptable leader of the masses. The people of the State, who are tired of militancy and the havoc that it has brought to their lives, now see in Dr Abdullah a messiah of peace, progress and prosperity.

This confidence of the people has naturally cast a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. As he has himself confessed rather candidly in a TV interview, he can no longer afford to neglect the interests of his people or repeat the mistakes and frivolities of the past, which had alienated him from his people. Having matured both by age and experience, Dr. Abdullah is today a transformed man who knows that destiny has cast on him the responsibility of taking the State, as an integral part of the national mainstream, on to the road of progress and prosperity and lead it on to the 21st century.

It was, therefore, quite heartening to find that soon after assuming the office of the Chief Minister, Dr. Abdullah lost no time in spelling out the priorities on his agenda which include, apart from the restoration of peace and tranquillity and reconstruction of the di- lapidated political, economic, administrative and socio-cultural infrastructure, the all-important issue of the return of Kashmiri Pandit migrants to the Valley with dignity and honour. We are also happy that he has expressed his Government's resolve to constitute a Human Rights Commission to go into the atrocities on the people by militant outfits and foreign mercenaries aided and abetted by Pakistan over the past seven years, including some excesses here and there by security forces. While the composition of this Commission and its terms of reference are sill to be spelt out, we do expect that the wanton abuse of the human rights of the Kashmiri Pandit community, including brutal killings and rape of women forcing them to leave their hearths and homes since the break-out of the militancy, will not be precluded from the purview of the Commission As regards the return of the KP migrants to the Valley, we have no reason at this stage to doubt the sincerity of Dr. Abdullah's intentions, which he has not only expressed publicly in Srinagar and Jammu but also during his meeting with a delegation of the Kashmiri Samiti which recently called on him in the Capital Our only apprehension is that any pressure on the migrants through executive fiat or any other method, without giving them reasonable time to prepare themselves for a reverse exodus and without a carefully thought- out plan, may prove counterproductive and further and to their woes and miseries. We must make it clear that no migrant would be averse to returning home, an emotive issue for which he has been pining all these years, but before doing so, he does need an assurance, and legitimately so, that he will really be welcomed back by his erstwhile neighbour and his family and friends with open arms and allowed to become once again an integral part of the composite Kashmiri culture of the days of yore. The prevailing ground realities which include the sporadic eruption of militancy-related violence even after the installation of the popular government and the existence of hostile elements averse to the return of normalcy, are the cogent reasons for our apprehensions. The latest tragic incident in which seven family members of NC leader Mr Ghulam Hassan Hadeef were killed in a powerful bomb blast at his house in Anantnag district on the 21st October is a pointer to the fact that the militants are not reconciled to the new democratic rule in the State.

It, therefore, devolves on Dr Abdullah and his colleagues to first nip the menace of militancy in the bud and then create a congenial and conducive atmosphere throughout the State for the honourable return of the migrants to the Valley. In this context, we welcome the bold and courageous stand of Dr. Abdullah in issuing a stern warning to the militant groups to surrender their arms within one month or face the consequences. We hope the prodigals will still see the writing on the wall and cooperate with the Government in restoring peace and tranquillity to Kashmir and convert it once again into a real Paradise on Earth.

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Courtesy: T N Dhar Kundan   Editor Koshur Samachar  1996 and  November1996, Koshur Samachar