Kashmiri Pandits say hurt by "politics" over their return; township needed

Jammu, Apr 12: It was 26 years ago when Kashmiri Pandit lawyer Tika Lal Taploo and more than 700 members of the community were killed by militants in the Valley leading to a mass exodus, but their kin say the wounds are bleeding again due to "politics" over the issue of their return and rehabilitation.

"I was 20 years old when militants of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) killed my father in broad daylight...", said Ashutosh Taploo, son of Tika Lal, who was the first person from the community to have been killed by militants.

"The memories of the incident and the sight of the bullet- ridden body of my father still sends chills down my spine," he says.

Tika Lal, who was also a national executive member of the BJP, was gunned down by militants on September 14, 1989 when he was on his way to his office in a Srinagar court.

Alliance partners PDP-BJP recently spoke in different voices on composite townships for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley with state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed saying no separate clusters will be built for the displaced community while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made it clear that there was no change in Centre's view on it.

Ashutosh expressed strong resentment over the "undue politics" being played over the rehabilitation issue and said that the situation was not conducive for their return to the native places.

"A township exclusively for the community is the need of the hour. If the Prime Minister is really serious about applying balm on our wounds, he must act and go ahead with the plan to establish such a township," Ashutosh said.

He claimed that the opposition by separatists to the proposal of setting up of a composite township for Kashmiri Pandits was part of a conspiracy to ensure that they do not return to the Valley.

Some others also felt that going back to their native places would mean rubbing salt to the wounds inflicted upon by the militants.

"I was only ten when militants blew off our house in Ashmuji village of Kulgam district and shot at my father and grandfather from a point-blank range, said 35-year-old Sandeep Kaul, adding that "It would be impossible for me and my family to return to our native place and live amongst the people who had facilitated the killing of my father and grandfather."

PTI