The Hindu : Parties woo Pandits in camps

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 20, 2002

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Parties woo Pandits in camps

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGROTA (JAMMU) SEPT. 19. Major political parties of Jammu and Kashmir have been focusing on migrant camps in Jammu as the second phase of Assembly elections draws nearer.

Most of the camps of the Kashmiri Pandits are located in the peripheral areas of urban localities and also in Udhampur district of Jammu.

In the first phase, the Pandits had a minuscule presence in most of the 23 Assembly segments which went to polls. The bulk of the community belongs to segments in Kashmir, which are going to polls in the second phase on September 24, and parties are zooming in on the Habakadal segment. Most parties used to put up a Pandit candidate from this segment, where the community had a sizeable number and which was represented by senior Pandit leaders such as D.P. Dhar, who was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and considered to be one of the main advisers of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, on J&K affairs during the Congress regime.

In the last elections, the seat was represented by the senior National Conference leader and former Law Minister, P.L. Handoo, who died some time back. Unlike the 1996 elections when the community boycotted the polls, this time several leaders have jumped into the fray. Though various Pandit organisations such as Panun Kashmir have asked the community to boycott the polls as, according to them, elections will not lead to solution of their main problem of not being able to return to the valley, the leaders who are in the fray are appealing to the electorate to cast their vote.

The candidates are visiting the migrant camps and wooing them to vote in their favour. For the Habakadal segment, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has fielded a veteran Pandit leader, Raghunath Vashnavi. This time P.L. Handoo's son-in-law, Raman Matoo, has also jumped into the fray after he was denied the National Conference ticket for the seat. The ruling party has fielded a woman candidate, Shammima, for the seat, while the Congress candidate is Moti Lal.

Senior political leaders have also visited the migrant camps and urged the community to participate in the polls. In their visits to the camps, the parties have promised that they would do their best to help Pandits return to the valley. The PDP vice-president, Mehbooba Mufti, and the Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, while visiting the camps are stressing this point and putting forth their party's policies vis-à-vis the community.

A migrant at the camp, Bal Jee, says, "No doubt we do not have a hope of early return to the valley, but still participating in the elections links us to the land we belong to."

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