[Reader-list] Pandits return to save their land, not for PM's promises(Hindustan Times)

[rashneek kher]

Much has been made of the fact that a few Kashmiri Pandit families have
returned to the Valley recently. Large sections of the media have reported
that Kashmiri Pandits are returning in response to the rehabilitation
package announced by the prime minister on April 25. But the story, it
appears, is misleading.

The fact is, families came back on April 22, three days before Dr Manmohan
Singh's visit. And it appears they did so because they were informed that
their ancestral houses were in danger of being demolished. These houses are
in an area reportedly shortlisted for a bus terminus.

The Pandits demanded answers from the local administration as to why their
land was being used for a project without their being notified.

Verinag, a retired medical assistant who used to live in Kolapur mohalla in
Verinag, is furious. "The government is talking of rehabilitation on the one
hand, and appropriating our property on the other," he told Hindustan Times.


"We have come to save our property from the government's illegal action,"
Lal said. "Our visit has no link whatsoever with the Prime Minister's
package," he said.

He pointed out that the PM announced the package on April 25, three days
after they arrived at their ancestral village.

Kanta Koul, a mother of three, brought her ailing husband Sundari Lal to the
village instead of taking him to Delhi for treatment when she learnt that a
bus stand was to come up on their property. "I sold my valuables instead of
land to marry off one of my daughters. Now the government wants to
dispossess me of my land and home," she said.

Local MLA Ghulam Ahmad Mir has  reportedly told them they will be given land
in compensation, but the residents are not pleased. Rattan Lal asked: "Why
can't they construct the bus stand over that land."

Several Kashmiri Pandit families fled the village when insurgency reared its
head in the Valley in the '80s. They shifted to Jammu, where most live in a
Kashmiri Pandit locality called Durga Nagar, on the outskirts of Jammu.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=fb1712c9-047a-4d83-b8d2-eb8a7f81f074&&Headline=Pandits+return+to+save+their+land%2c+not+for+PM%e2%80%99s+promises
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-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com