Time heals but there are wounds that never heal. One such wound is what the Kashmiri Pandits have been experiencing since January 19, 1990, when they were asked to leave the Valley, lock, stock and barrel. Much water has flowed down the Jhelum since their mass migration to places as far away as Delhi but their problems remain the same.
Governments have come and gone in New Delhi and Srinagar but the promises they made to the Pandits remain just promises. There is now a whole new generation of Pandits who have never seen their homeland except, perhaps, as tourists. It is difficult for them to reconcile to the fact of being refugees in their own nation. They may today be more Delhiites or Jammuites than Kashmiris but their identity remains the same. Those who still remember the night they lost their homes and hearths are the ones who find the wounds inflicted on them unbearable but they have no alternative.
Of course, the State government invites them to return with promises that they would get their land back but they know only too well how insincere the invitation is. It was the situation in the Valley that forced them to flee and the situation remains more or less the same. There is no guarantee that their life and limb would be safe in Kashmir. On their part, the governments have announced fanciful schemes of rehabilitation which have remained utopian. Many refugees might have overcome their problems but there are some whose condition is no better than when they were pushed into penury.
Their needs need to be met; it is a responsibility the government cannot run away from. Those who cannot go back to the Valley need to be compensated for their losses while those who have the urge to return should be provided a sense of security. That will come only when the Centre and the State are earnest in redeeming the promises made. It’s better late than never.