Home is where insecurity is for Pandits left in the Valley

SRINAGAR, February 9: Dwarka Nath faces a dilemma of choosing between his ancestral land and the security of his family. As his mind fails t...

SRINAGAR, February 9: Dwarka Nath faces a dilemma of choosing between his ancestral land and the security of his family. As his mind fails to take a decision, he and 12 other Kashmiri Pandits from the picturesque Lolab valley find themselves driven to a guarded dak bungalow, away from their homes.Panicky authorities had decided to cage these Hindus in the safe buildings immediately after killing of 23 Hindus in Wandhama.

“If security means I have to leave my land why should I not be allowed to leave the valley and go to Jammu”, he asks. The question haunts majority of the nearly 10,000 odd members of this minuscule community, who continued to stay put in their homes in spite of the 1990 mass exodus of the Hindus from valley.

“I even tried to show solidarity with militants by providing them hideouts at my place and by concealing their weapons”, said a teacher from a Budgam village, located near to Sangrampora, site of massacre of eight Hindus last year. He even faced the wrath of the security forces.Today, he admits there were no fool-proof “survival-tricks” for the Hindus and they may be ultimately forced to leave Kashmir.

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PL Handoo, law minister and a senior National Conference leader admits the government had no clear policy on remaining Kashmiri Pandits.

“The government has failed to mobilise people at the grass-roots for creating opinion for communal harmony”, Handoo told The Indian Express. “They are feeling very insecure”, he admitted. Although the pro-militant quarters have been claiming heavy presence of the minority community the government-conducted census after the Wandhama killings have established presence of nearly 1,200 families all over the valley. These people are living in nearly 257 places and their largest concentration is in Anantnag and Srinagar districts.