Displaced Kashmiri Hindus' return sought

Srinagar: They left their ancestral homes in droves 19 years ago when a bloody rebellion broke out against New Delhi's rule in Kashmir.

Now, encouraged by a thaw in relations between India and Pakistan, the authorities in the disputed Himalayan region are making plans to help thousands of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, return home.

"Kashmiri Pandit migrant families who had to sell their property in distress and were desirous to return to the Valley would be given assistance of Rs750,000 [Dh68,262]," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced during his visit to the troubled region.

Many Hindus who fled Kashmir have sold their homes, officials say.

Singh asked the Kashmir government to identify land to set up community housing projects and offered to provide jobs to 6,000 Kashmiri migrant Hindu youths.

"The package was decided on the principle that everyone had the right to resettle with peace and dignity on the land of his forefathers," Singh added.

Authorities say the situation in Muslim-majority Kashmir has improved as violence had declined after India and Pakistan launched a peace process in 2004.

Winter capital

While some Kashmiri Hindus have made their way to Delhi and other parts of the country, thousands of Pandit migrants live in the state's winter capital, Jammu.

"I always wanted to return and here is an opportunity. Going back home will obviously be the last wish of even a dying Kashmiri Pandit," said Bushan Lal Bhat, 62, a retired government employee.

"In this terrible heat I always miss the cool breeze of my Kashmir," he said in Jammu.

Distant dream

Some Pandit groups are demanding a separate, guarded homeland within the Kashmir Valley, while others complained that Singh was not meeting their security concerns.

"The central leadership appears to be oblivious of the ground realities in Kashmir," says Nana Ji Koul, a shop worker. "The situation for our return is still a distant dream."

The name "Pandit", from Sanskrit, means the learned person. The Pandits' roots in the Himalayan region go back about 5,000 years. India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, came from the Pandit stock, considered the learned elite of the Valley. From the 13th century, when Islam became a majority religion in Kashmir, until 1989, Muslims lived side-by-side with Pandits.