[Reader-list] Less than 3,500 Pandits left in Kashmir valley

Wed Mar 24 10:34:31 IST 2010

But the news item you just posted quoted a figure of 'over 380,000.' Over
the years I was told by Pandits themselves that the population was around
350,000.  This is the first time I've come across your figure of 700,000.
Please substantiate/explain/quote a source.

Also pl see this report:

Date:24/03/2010 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/24/stories/2010032461230900.htm

³219 Kashmiri Pandits killed by militants since 1989²

 Shujaat Bukhari 

24,202 Pandit families migrated out of the Valley due to turmoil

Centre sanctioned special package for return, rehabilitation of migrants

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday said 219 Kashmiri
Pandits were killed by militants since 1989 while 24,202 families were among
the total 38,119 families which migrated out of the Valley due to turmoil.

Replying to a question from People's Democratic Party member Syed Basharat
Bukhari, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla told the Assembly in Jammu that ³219
Pandits were killed in Kashmir from 1989 to 2004. From 2004, no killing of
any person from the community [Kashmiri Pandits] took place till now,² Mr.
Bhalla said.

A total number of 38,119 families comprising 1,42,042 Kashmiri migrants were
registered with the Revenue and Relief Ministry till now.

The Minister said the government had also paid an ex gratia of Rs.1 lakh for
each death. ³Besides, an amount of Rs. 39,64,91,838 has been paid as
compensation to the Pandits on account of damage to their properties since
the eruption of militancy,² he said.

An amount of Rs.71.95 crore was spent in providing relief and other
facilities to the Kashmiri migrants living in Jammu and other parts in
2007-08, Rs.70.33 crore in 2008-09 and Rs.68.59 crore from 2009 up to
January, 2010.

Mr. Bhalla said the government was committed to facilitating their return to
Kashmir but regretted that no action could be taken on various plans and
recommendations as the situation was not conducive for their return.

³With the improvement in the situation in the Valley, the government decided
to construct 200 flats at an estimated cost of Rs.22.90 crore at Sheikhpora
Budgam in 2004. And 120 flats have so far been completed of which possession
of 60 flats was taken over by the department and inspection of other 60
flats is going on. The construction of remaining 80 flats shall be completed
during 2010. Besides, 18 flats have also been constructed through the Jammu
and Kashmir Housing Board at Mattan Anantnag,² he told the House.

A committee headed by M.L. Koul, the then Finance Commissioner, Planning and
Development Department, was formed to prepare an action plan for the return
and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants to the Valley. In its report
submitted to the government in 1997-98, the committee recommended a package
of Rs.2,799.11 crore for the return of migrants.

Mr. Bhalla said a special package of Rs. 1,618.40 crore was sanctioned by
the Government of India for the return and rehabilitation of the migrants.
³Under this scheme, 3,000 supernumerary posts have been created, exclusively
for the Kashmiri migrants, willing to return to the Valley. These posts have
already been referred to the recruiting agencies and the process for the
selection of these posts is on,² he said.

But, despite all these rehabilitation packages, not a single Kashmiri
migrant has returned to the Valley, the Minister rued.

He said that 808 Pandit families consisting of 3,445 people were still
living in the Valley.

³These families have never migrated,² he said.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

> From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:18:41 +0530
> To: "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> Cc: Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Less than 3,500 Pandits left in Kashmir valley
> 
> My apologies..... My whole days goes into $ conversion into INR ....I
> got lost into that . It should have been 700 K.
> 
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 10:16 AM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Are you serious?  Please explain.  I am truly baffled.
>> 
>> 
>>> From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
>>> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:14:44 +0530
>>> To: "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
>>> Cc: Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Less than 3,500 Pandits left in Kashmir valley
>>> 
>>> Yes !
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 10:13 AM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 7 million?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
>>>>> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:38:26 +0530
>>>>> To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>>>>> Subject: [Reader-list] Less than 3,500 Pandits left in Kashmir valley
>>>>> 
>>>>> "A Seven million community reduced to three thousand by Jihadis &
>>>> Islamic
>>>>> fanatics"
>>>> 
>>>> http://sify.com/news/Less-than-3-500-Pandits-left-in-Kashmir-valley
>>>>> -news-National-kdxtabhbiji.html
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Less than 3,500 Pandits left in Kashmir
>>>>> valley
>>>> 
>>>> 2010-03-23 19:00:00
>>>> A massive demographic change has taken place in
>>>>> Kashmir valley which
>>>> now has a mere 3,445 Kashmiri Pandits left as against
>>>>> more than
>>>> 380,000 in 1990, Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla
>>>>> said
>>>> Tuesday.
>>>> 
>>>> Making the disclosure in the state legislative assembly, the
>>>>> minister
>>>> said that 'only 808 families of Kashmiri Pandits were living in
>>>>> the
>>>> valley' and the total number of men, women and children of the
>>>> community
>>>>> there 'is 3,445'.
>>>> 
>>>> Bhalla said that most of the Kashmiri Pandits had fled the
>>>>> valley in
>>>> 1990 because of fear of militants. 'The killing of community
>>>>> members
>>>> led to a fear psychosis in the community,' he said, adding that
>>>>> 219
>>>> Kashmiri Pandits were killed in 1990.
>>>> 
>>>> Though the minister did not specify
>>>>> it, the number of the families
>>>> living in the valley included 31 families of
>>>>> Kashmiri Pandits living
>>>> in a protected zone in Sheikhpora in Budgam district
>>>>> and also the
>>>> officials working in the banks and central government departments
>>>>> and
>>>> organisations. Their exact number is however not known.
>>>> 
>>>> More than 350,000
>>>>> Kashmiri Pandits had fled the valley in 1990.
>>>> 
>>>> Those who stayed back, migrated
>>>>> after massacres of the community
>>>> members in Sangrampora in Budgam district in
>>>>> March 1997, Wandhama in
>>>> Ganderbal, near Srinagar, in January 1998 and Nadimarg
>>>>> in south
>>>> Kashmir in March 2003.
>>>> 
>>>> Kashmiri Pandits are now mostly living in
>>>>> Jammu and Udhampur within
>>>> the state, and in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and
>>>>> Maharashtra.
>>>> 
>>>> Bhalla, however, reiterated the state government's resolve to
>>>>> bring
>>>> the community back to the valley. He said that work is on to
>>>>> construct
>>>> the transit accommodation for them in the valley, where they would
>>>>> be
>>>> housed before their original properties are restored to them.
>>>> 
>>>> Prime
>>>>> Minister Manmohan Singh has announced a Rs.1,618 crore relief
>>>> and
>>>>> rehabilitation package for the return of the Kashmiri Pandits to
>>>> the 'land of
>>>>> their grandfathers and great grandfathers,' during his
>>>> visit to Jammu April
>>>>> 25, 2008.
>>>> _________________________________________
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 