Image courtesy: swarajyamag.com

On 13 December 2022, during the ongoing winter session of Parliament, Lok Sabha members Shri Kanwar Pushpinder Singh Chandel (BJP) and Shrimati Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah (BJP) raised the question whether the government has taken steps to protect the rights of Have you taken any steps? And the lives of the minority Kashmiri Pandits in the country in the face of constant attacks on them. He also asked to provide details of policy measures taken for the welfare of Hindu minorities in Kashmir.

Mr. Nityanand Roy, Minister of Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha and replied to the said question that “Government has a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism”. The government has taken several steps to ensure the safety of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. These include a strong security and intelligence grid, area control day and night, patrolling and active counter-terrorist operations, round-the-clock checking at ports, road opening parties at strategic locations to thwart any terrorist attack. Includes deployment.

The government then said that “under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), 2015, 2,639 government jobs have been provided to Kashmiri migrants. Various departments of the Jammu and Kashmir government in the valley. Additionally, the Jammu and Kashmir Govt. has launched a portal on 7.9.2021 to redress the grievances of Kashmiri migrants.Government of India for providing the following facilities to Kashmiri migrants residing in Jammu Reimbursement of expenses incurred:

(i) Monthly cash relief at the prevailing rate of Rs. 3250 per capita with a limit of Rs. 13,000/- per family; And

(ii) Monthly dry ration of 9 kg rice, 2 kg flour per head and 1 kg sugar per family.

In case of Kashmiri migrants settled in Delhi, the Government of India reimburses the expenses incurred by the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) on monthly cash assistance of Rs. 3250/- per person out of which GNCTD’s share is Rs. 1000/- per person.

The answer can be read here:

Has the government really succeeded in protecting the Kashmiri Pandits?

On 6 December 2022, People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti accused the BJP of “exploiting the pain and suffering” of Kashmiri Pandits and said the government had failed to provide protection to the minority community in Kashmir.

This government has failed to protect Kashmiri Pandits. It is only exploiting the pain and suffering of the community for its own interests. It is not serious about their problems,” Mufti told reporters in Qazigund in Anantnag district.[1]

He has made this comment regarding the leakage of the list of Kashmiri Pandit employees posted in Kashmir. He said that it is unfortunate that such information is being made public.

In the month of October, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the valley and claimed that the situation in Kashmir was normal and militancy had been neutralized. Again and again, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and officers from Jammu and Kashmir The administration has repeated this claim.. Singh and the BJP have always upheld Article 370, which granted special status to the region, as the root cause of the Kashmir issue. Therefore, they argued, its removal would normalize the situation in the valley.

Now, more than three years after the abrogation of Article 370, when the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories, and its administration was brought under the central government, the situation has worsened. has gone Kashmiri Pandits who did not leave the Valley even in the nineties are being killed and forced to migrate. Many Pandits have moved families to Jammu or elsewhere, and at least five families have left Kashmir permanently.

Resident Pandit Association’s PSS leader Sanjay Tiko, who himself is living with life-threatening conditions, says that if the current situation continues, most of his community will leave the valley. The beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s package should not be made sacrificial lambs for the sake of image management of the government. Stopping the salaries of migrant Pandit civil servants and forcing them to stay in the Valley is not a solution to this problem. Until the situation returns to normal and security is assured, there is no point in pressing them for forced rehabilitation. Even during the nineties, the Pandits who fled the Valley were not deprived of their salaries and were not compensated for their hardships and sufferings.

Failure of Kashmir files.

The Kashmiri Pandit Sanghrish Samiti (KPSS), a Srinagar-based group representing Kashmiri Pandits who, at great risk to their lives and livelihoods, never migrated from the Valley, told Kashmir Files. Called an attempt. Selling community pain for commercial and political “gains”.

KPSS president Sanjay Tiku told the media that the tweet was about the film, which he said had done nothing but harm to the Pandit community. “Film is nothing more than the commercialization of our pain, the politicization of our pain,” Tico had said.

The Kashmir Files, endorsed by the BJP, portrays the 1990s attacks on Pandits in Kashmir as demonizing Muslims. Prominent Israeli filmmaker and International Film Festival of India jury chief Nadav Lapid on Monday called the film “propaganda” and “trash”.

The Samiti chief, who has also criticized Kashmir Files in the past, said the film dealt a blow to decades-long efforts to bridge the gap between the Muslim and Pandit communities in Kashmir.

A brief background on the Kashmir issue:

Since 1989, millions of Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to flee Kashmir due to terrorist attacks and violence. According to the Home Ministry, many Kashmiri migrants are living in different areas of the valley. These include the existing transit accommodation at Visu (Kulgam), Matan (Anantnag), Hawal (Pulwama), Natansa (Kupwara), Sheikhpura (Budgam) and Virwan (Baramulla).

Related:

Center should learn, Kashmiri Pandits cannot be restored by force
Protests after brutal killing of Kashmiri Pandit farmer: Kashmir
Kashmiri Pandits (KP) trouble continues in Valley, KPSS accuses Govt.
Kashmiri Hindus are allegedly killed by terrorist gunmen.
Kashmir: Suspected militants claimed another life

[1] BJP government has failed to protect Kashmiri Pandits, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti (outlookindia.com)