‘‘We will welcome Hurriyat leaders, but we don’t trust them. They are responsible for our exodus and present plight’’. Rakesh Kaul, an unemployed Kashmiri Pandit youth from Purkhoo migrant camp, summed up the angst of the displaced community as he expressed his apprehensions about the proposed talks.
Like Rakesh Koul, many others in the migrant camps here expressed similar views about moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq’s first visit to Jammu to hold talks with Kashmiri Pandits. He will arrive here tomorrow afternoon for a four-day visit and will address a public rally at the Shahidhi Chowk in the late afternoon.
Most of the Kashmiri Pandits in the migrant camps said they did not have any expectations from the talks with the Hurriyat. ‘‘It is just politics and nothing else. They want to use us in their bigger scheme of things in the present political scenario, which has compelled them to come to Jammu,’’ said Ravinder Raina, a private employee, from Muthi migrant camp, adding: ‘‘Where were they during the last 16 years?’’.
Another elderly Pandit S N Dhar from the Muthi migrant camp, Phase I, was more vociferous in his response. ‘‘They are responsible for our displacement. Today they have come to talk to us. Can these talks undo what we have suffered when we fled Kashmir 16 years ago?’’ Another Pandit from Mishriwalla camp said Kashmiris are known for their hospitality and they will not show any disrespect to Mirwaiz, though they do not believe that talks will make any difference. ‘‘We may welcome him and have a good chat but that will not change the ground realities either here or in Kashmir.’’
R K Bhat, who a runs Vitasta Medical Centre in Muthi Migrant camp, Phase II, made it clear that Kashmiri Pandits and Hurriyat have no common ground till Hurriyat admits that Kashmir is an inseparable part of India.
Hurriyat’s interlocutor with the Pandits, Syed Slam Geelani, who has been here for quite some time to prepare ground for the visit told IE here today that he is aware of the anger amongst a section of the Pandits. He said many Pandit representatives are coming to receive him at the airport tomorrow. ‘‘the Mirwaiz’s doors are open to all those who want to talk to him. If some people are not interested in taking advantage of the historic visit, what can we do,’’ he rued. Asked whether Mirwaiz Umer will visit the migrant camps, Geelani said this was yet to be decided. On Friday, Mirwaiz will participate in an interactive programme orgnised by the Action Committee for the Return of Migrants, headed by Jatinder Bakshi at Asia Hotel where Pandit representatives from different parts of Jammu will hold talks with him. The next day, he will meet the members of the Jammu Kashmir Secular Alliance, headed by Anil Dhar.
It may be recalled that last July a delegation of Pandits had held talks with the moderate Hurriyat in Srinagar for the first time in the last 15 years.
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