A list of the persons eligible to cast vote in an election to constitute 90 member J &K Assembly is finally out. It registers an increase of 7.7 lakhs (10 .19 % ) over the one published three years back. With the increase in Assembly constituencies 613 new polling stations too have been added.
The list was eagerly awaited for variety of reasons. Many labored under an apprehension that vast number of non-JK residents may make to it. That hasn’t been the case. Decks seem to have been cleared for the Assembly election. Though, ruling BJP’s political convenience remains to be contended with.
Where do Pandits figure in the exercise? No one can, for sure, venture an answer. On the available indications, given their widespread dispersal all over the place and lack of political support the published electoral list won’t give much hope to the displaced Pandits.
What adds to their disappointment is the administration’s apathy towards them which can be gauged by the fact that number of hurdles, like filling up of ‘M Form’ etc., have been placed in their way to hold them back from the electoral process.
Their stake in the political and administrative set up has been systematically reduced to a nil. KPs are asked to vote for a person whom they don’t know – who lives hundred miles away and doesn’t care to see them – neither during elections nor thereafter.
Away from home, KPs stand totally disempowered and disowned, politically or otherwise. They are now walking on a path of irresistible trajectory, with the forgone conclusion of their collective destiny as that of fading into the history as a lost community.
Their voice isn’t heard. Today, like in the past, governments both at the centre and in the state have shown scant regard for their plight. The pitiable condition of PM Package employees who, in the wake of brutal killings of their collogues in office premises in June this year are on roads seeking safer places for discharging duties in Kashmir, is a glaring example.
Pandit marginalization in political and administrative arena of J &K is for all to see. In a bid to find some space in the legislative arena, the displaced community brought their case to the notice of the Delimitation Commission, constituted in 2020 to demarcate 90 Assembly constituencies and 5 Parliamentary Constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir UT. Its Report came out in May this year.
In the press note which happened to be the part of Report, issued simultaneously, the Commission made following recommendations to the Central Government and asked it to make; “Provision of at least two members ( one of them must be a female ) from the community of Kashmiri Migrants in the legislative Assembly and such members may be given power at par with the power of nominated members, of the Legislative Assembly Of Union Territory of Pondicherry.”
While making recommendation the Commission noted, “During the public hearing, the Commission received number of representations from the Kashmiri Migrants and the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The delegations of Kashmiri Migrants represented before the commission that they were persecuted and forced to live in exile as refugees in their own country for the last three decades. It was urged that in order to preserve their political rights, seats may be reserved for them in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Parliament ……”
The Commission granted official recognition of what the KPs have been saying for the last 32 years – that they need political and economic rehabilitation. It has provided a solid edifice where on – with a bit of more effort – much could be build. Apart from that, having come from a Constitutional body – headed by a former Supreme Court Judge – the recommendation for two seats in the Assembly has put a stamp of approval on the law and circumstances which the community delegations had put forth before it, in support of its claim of reservation in the State Legislature and the Parliament.
But so far nothing has flowed from the recommendation. As things portend nothing is going to flow. While GOI is concerned with reservations for Gujjars and Pharis it may show some urgency in case of KPs also, who are on the brink of extinction.
In this regard, Kashmiri Pandits (Recourse, Restitution, Rehabilitation And Resettlement) BILL 2022, introduced to the Rajya Sabah by Vivek Tankha could be of great help to the cause.
Chapter 111 of the Bill which deals with Political and Economic Rehabilitation of Pandits needs to be recalled here. In Clause 5 Sub clause ( 2 ) reservation for the Pandits in Legislative Assembly, Parliament and other elected bodies has been specifically sought.
For the Pandit community, self probing is essential if it has to evaluate 32 years long exile in an objective manner. Political preferences must be kept aside. It hasn’t paid and will not pay in future if the community continues to see things and thinks only one way. For the Pandit’s deliverance from the present predicament, search for the other way is advisable.
B L SARAF, Former Principal District &Sessions Judge
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.