Pandit Rehabilitation: Will it see a closure ?

Kashmiri Pandits’ return and rehabilitation issue has reached the Parliament of India. Congress Member of the Rajya Sabha, Vivek K Tankha himself a Kashmiri Pandit - now living in MP – has presented a Bill ( Bill No XV111 Of 2022 ) in the Rajya Sabha called Kashmiri Pandits (Recourse, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Bill, 2022, with aim and object to provide for “ social, political and economic rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, protection of their property, restoration of their cultural heritage, ensuring their safety and security, provision of rehabilitation and resettlement package to them and for matters connected therewith or incidental there to.” The President of India has recommended consideration and passing of the Bill - a development Tankha had described as “a big achievement as very few Bills with financial implications, get recommended by the Honorable President under Clause 3 of Article 117 of the Constitution.”

The Bill maps, almost, all issues which have been confronting the displaced Pandits and echoes their demand in all aspects, which they have been projecting ever since their displacement, in 1989. For instance, the first thing that the displaced Pandits want to get rid of is the demeaning word - “Migrant” - prefixed to their identity; and want a change in nomenclature to Internally Displaced Persons (Sub Clause ii of Clause 5).

Next, the Bill seeks a statutory recognition to what The National Commission of Human Rights said in late 1990s, that the displaced Pandits went through a situation which was “akin to the genocide”. Sub Cl ii CL 5 envisages a Parliamentary declaration that the displaced Hindu community of Kashmir is the victim of genocide, so that the legal and political consequences, as will be available, would flow to it in natural course. However, other opinion on the issue cannot be ruled out.

There may be a divergence in opinion among displaced persons on some issues but the whole Hindu community of Kashmir is one in raising a demand for a statutory protection of its spiritual and civilizational signpost in situated in Kashmir. They demand a democratic and transparent management of Temples and Shrines backed by a law. Chapter V of the Bill covers the issue to some extent. Though, more requires to be done at the local level by the local Assembly.

The Bill bats for the adequate political, social and economic empowerment of the displaced community and, in this regard, has suggested measures to achieve the purpose. It may be stated here that though the Delimitation Commission did provide for reservation of couple of seats in the local Assembly for the migrants but the provision is yet to see the implantation, despite local Assembly being in place since October 2024. The moving of the Bill referred above may, hopefully, make the powers that be to move in the desired direction, as early as possible.

The Bill calls for the release of a White Paper on the issues of Kashmiri Pandits “documenting all events in Kashmir Valley pertaining to the atrocities and the plight of Kashmiri Pandits starting from year 1989 till enactment of the Act.” The White Paper should be prepared by a committee of persons mentioned in Sub Cl iii of Cl 5. This provision synchronizes well with what the Pandits have been demanding since long. Similarly, the displaced persons’ demand of having a minority status granted under Cl (c) of Section 3 of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1993 is well projected.

We hope that when the Bill is moved for consideration and passing a threadbare discussion will ensue in the highest legislative body of the country, touching all the aspects encompassed therein, and the Honorable law makers will adopt a bipartisan approach to address the issues flagged - some of them are existential to the displaced community. The community has to acknowledge the real service, Tankha, as a true concerned Kashmiri Pandit, has done to its cause, as against those who milked the miseries of the Pandit community to the hilt, only to enrich themselves materially and politically.

Vivek Tankha’s intentions in moving the Bill are well known, nevertheless this development will put the whole political spectrum, across ideologies, to a heavy test. Pandits have been hearing political parties speak, ad nauseam, about the cultural and political contribution they have made to the social and political capital of the country. These political parties often shed tears on the plight of Panadits living in exile. This is the time when they, in general, and the BJP, in particular, must come true to their words and support the passing of bill into a Law, at the earliest.

Many things can be done for a dignified return and rehabilitation of the displaced Kashmiri Hindus, in their home, within the existing legal and administrative architecture. Only a determined will is required, for which the local and Central governments shall have to walk the mile, in tandem. The displaced community, on its part, has to cooperate and reciprocate in equal measure. Saying no to everything and indulging in the exercise of ‘ifs and buts’ will carry it nowhere.

B L SARAF, former Principal District & Sessions Judge