Implement policies related to our rights, rehabilitation, says non-migrant KP body

The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) — an association of non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits — on Monday urged the ruling NC government to ensure “full and fair implementation of all policies related to the rehabilitation, rights, and survival of non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir valley.

KPSS chief Sanjay Tickoo in a statement expressed “deep anguish and dismay” over what he called the “sustained bureaucratic apathy and political marginalisation” faced by non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits / Kashmiri Hindus, who, he said, courageously chose to remain in the valley.

He said for over a decade, KPSS has submitted countless communications to the concerned authorities, urging the drafting and implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitation policy that includes the non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit community.

“While the Central government in December 2014 extended partial benefits of the rehabilitation policy to this community—such as inclusion in the Prime Minister’s Employment Package and provision for accommodation— the local leadership, particularly from the migrant Kashmiri Pandit cadre within the ruling party, actively sabotaged its implementation,” said Tickoo.

The Pandit body said despite several representations to the Central government, “our genuine pleas fell on deaf ears, manipulated by false narratives and deliberate misinformation.”

Tickoo said it is both disheartening and revealing that from the day the J&K Lieutenant Governor took office, he refused to meet KPSS despite numerous formal communications seeking time to submit grievances and recommendations. “This silence further emboldened those within the system working against the survival and dignity of the non-migrant community,” he said.

Stating that now that an elected government is once again in place in Jammu & Kashmir, KPSS hopes that “the era of political sabotage has ended and that the new leadership will rise above vendetta and represent every section of society.”

“KPSS urges the government to ensure full and fair implementation of all policies related to our rehabilitation, rights, and survival—as equal stakeholders in our homeland,” he said.

The body states in 2008, there were 808 non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit / Kashmiri Hindu families in the Valley. Today, that number has dropped below 650.

“If this indifference continues, KPSS may be compelled to launch campaigns in various forms and seek to bring these long-standing grievances to the attention of international forums,” he added.