Dividing Kashmir: Delhi rolls out resettlement plan

Pandits not in favour of new townships; protesters call for shutdown across valley

SRINAGAR: India's nationalist government plans to resettle tens of thousands of Hindu Pandits in three new townships in Muslim-dominated Kashmir, setting up a confrontation with separatists who say it is an Israeli-style policy of creating settlements in occupied territory. Many Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, also say they are not in favour of the plan.

Between 200,000 to 300,000 Hindus are estimated to have fled Indian Kashmir after an armed revolt against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long vowed to return them to their homes.

Just a month ago, the BJP took control of the disputed valley’s government in alliance with a regional partner – the first time the Hindu nationalist party has been in power in the state. This week, the state government unveiled a plan to set up self-contained, heavily guarded colonies for Hindus who fled their homes and are now living elsewhere in India or overseas.



Under the plan, the townships will be built on land acquired from farmers and will have schools, shopping malls, hospitals and playgrounds, the government said.

The proposal has raised questions on whether these townships will exclusively house rehabilitated Kashmiri Pandits, with locals drawing parallels to illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.

Kashmir's main separatist alliance said the BJP was using the plight of the displaced people to further an agenda of ending Kashmir's special status. Under current laws, non-Kashmiris are not allowed to own land in the state.

"In the garb of the return of Kashmiri Pandits, a state within a state is being created. It is a ploy to make Kashmir the next Palestine and rob people of their land," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairman of the Hurriyat conference. He said the displaced Hindus must be brought back to Kashmir but not to ghettos which would only sharpen divisions in Kashmiri society.

But the state’s chief minister, whose PDP runs a government in partnership with the BJP, has assured that he would not allow "Israeli-type settlements," the NDTV reported. "I have told the home minister that they can't stay separately. If it happens, everyone will have to stay together," Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed said in the state assembly on Thursday.

Protests

Many Kashmiris held a street protest on Friday after prayers and have called for a shutdown across the Kashmir Valley on Saturday. Police resorted to tear gas shelling as dozens of demonstrators broke police cordons and entered the Lal Chowk area in the centre of Srinagar, according to NDTV.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2015.