KPs must return, but not with a tag!
The return of Kashmiri pundits to their motherland is long overdue. Kashmiri Pandits are an important component of Kashmiri culture and ethos. Kashmir without the pundit community is incomplete and bereft of any ethnic legitimacy and value. They were and will remain the major part of Kashmiri brotherhood, and communal harmony.
Anyone, who contradicts the valued brotherhood embedded deep into the mindset of all Kashmiris, has not understood the real meaning and the character of Kashmiriyat. Kashmiri Pandits can be small in number but their valuable contribution in Kashmir culture, language, art and other fields depicting the real face of Kashmir cannot be denied or brushed aside.
No saner people can deny that migration of majority of Kashmiri Pandits was a disaster; more a cultural tragedy than a painful displacement. In this catastrophe, middle class and the poor Kashmiri Pandits suffered immensely and even after more than two decades they are yet to overcome this sweeping misfortune. They got uprooted, severed from their social and cultural milieu and got separate from their mother-tongue. Such a state of anguish cannot be stated in words and can be expressed rightly only by the sufferer himself. Migration of Kashmiri Pandits was a mystery that only historians will be able to demystify at an appropriate time. Last more than two decades misery made not only the Pandits suffer, but their fellow Kashmiris back home have faced more death, destruction and enormous agony. But, yes, someone losing his nest (homeland) is more agonizing, that too when his own habitat is unique and more soothing in many ways. In a situation of turmoil suspicion and hostilities overcome hope and unity. Communities which once lived in peace; and people who once vouched for each other’s sincerity turned enemies. All Kashmiris, over the period of time have suffered from syndrome of mistrust and most of the times politics played catalyst in such situations of hostility.
Now, at the end of the day, to every unfortunate situation there has to be a solution. Like, after every sunset there has to be a sunrise, or otherwise this universe will cease to exist. Same is the case after every discord, there has to be a way of reconciliation. A situation of conflict, particularly the one encouraged and imposed by the vested interests requires sanity within the minds and an aura of compassion and better understanding to start a new beginning—a reconciliatory start that should evolve inside the conflict zone itself and from within the struggling communities. There should be no outside dictation, instruction, encouragement or propping. But a reconciliation of honesty, sincerity and brotherhood, not the patch-up loaded with ego.
So, Mother Kashmir is ready to welcome her children with open arms and they should consider their immediate return seriously and if not construed offensive, pursue it ‘more religiously’. Their Mouj Kasheer (motherland) is calling them to her bosom with affection and love. Frankly, Kashmiri Pandits should follow their inner voice and the call of their motherland and not the diktats of forces who want to use them as spur in their own political agenda and equation. They are the people who should decide their course of action independently without any coercion or force. Many forces want to attach many features to their return. The arguments like ghettos, inclusive, and exclusive does not suit and auger well for an honorable return. Any tag attached to a community that suffered agonizing isolation from its roots for more than two decades is the most reprehensible disservice to such community. Kashmiri Pandits who were trapped to deceits at the time of their unfortunate exodus have to be extra careful and vigilant this time round.