By Riyaz Wani
Srinagar In a rare rapprochement, Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims — including separatists — met here on Tuesday in an attempt to open a dialogue and come to grips with the baggage of the past two decades.
Though some-hard-hitting opinions were expressed, the discussion never crossed the line into hostility. While the leader of Kashmir Sangharsh Samiti, Sanjay Tickoo, talked about the suffering of the Pandit community, Muslims in the audience said the Pandits were indifferent towards the difficulties of Muslims in the Valley. JKLF supremo Yasin Malik, while acknowledging that the Pandits had been hit hard by the situation prevailing in the Valley, said, “The affluent Pandits living in Delhi and other parts of India are not interested in returning to the Valley. They don’t even want the return of the poor Pandits living in tents in Jammu,” Malik said. “There is a huge vested interest which is now rooted in the tragedy of the community.”
The scene for the debate was an exhibition of pictures showing the plunder of Pandit properties and religious places in Valley over the past two decades. Tickoo said the Muslims termed Pandits as traitors and collaborators of the government and hence wanted them out of the Valley. “You (Muslims) say it was Governor Jagmohan who sent us out of the Valley as the violence broke out in 1990. But what about the thousands who had stayed back even then?” Tickoo asked. “They fled after the massacre of 23 Pandits in Wandhama. Now there are no more than 3,000 Pandits in Valley”.
(Submitted by Rohila Pritam)