The Hindu : National : Pandits still apprehensive of returning

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Sunday, Jun 24, 2007
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Pandits still apprehensive of returning

Special Correspondent

Mixed reaction as they celebrate temple festival

Karan Singh joins worshippers
“Peace is returning to our homeland”

KHIRBHAWANI: With each passing year the number of Kashmiri Pandits visiting this ancient temple near Ganderbal is surging. And this year too they prayed for the safe return to their homes but many of them lack confidence to live as peacefully as they used to before the onset of militancy in 1989.

The Pandits, a majority of whom left the Valley in early 1990, travel every year to this place to take part in the festival. Most of the devotees turned emotional and recalled how they used to visit the place in their heyday. However, the reaction to a question whether they want to return was mixed. Those who have spent most of their life in Kashmir have only one answer: “Yes, why not. This is our matre-bhumi.”

The youngsters are not sure whether they should. “I want to return and I have no doubts that my prayer will be answered and I will return home,” said 67-year-old Shanti Devi. “My last wish is that I die here because this is my motherland,” she said. Accompanied by her family members she travelled from Delhi, and joined thousands of barefoot worshippers.

Amid tight security, the former Sadr-e-Riyasat, Karan Singh, also joined the worshippers. Many of those who have not visited Kashmir in the past 17 years certainly found a change in the situation.

“Peace is returning to our homeland, I am sure, long wait has ended, we will return,” hoped Vikas Koul, an employee in Accountant General’s office.

‘Assurance’

“Most of us want to return but we don’t want security from police or army, we want security and assurance from our Muslim brethren,” said Shamboo Nath, a government employee whose ancestral house is at the nearby Manigam village. “I have been visiting here for the last eight years now but did not find any change in the attitude of my Muslim neighbours. They are my security,” he said. Hundreds of Muslim boys and girls were selling flowers, plants and lamps to Hindus outside the temple.

“They (Pandits) are part of us and we are incomplete without them. We will ensure the safe and dignified return of Kashmiri Pandits,” said senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, who visited them at the temple on Saturday.

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