Pandits’ Return Still A Chimera newsclick.in

One hundred days have passed since the revocation of Kashmir’s special status and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. The prime justification for these moves, an issue continuously raised by right-wing forces, is that it would facilitate the return of Kashmiri pandits to the Valley. This justification is even used to counter the criticism of undemocratic practices in the Valley and to legitimize atrocities on minorities in the rest of the country.

Of course, a substantial section of the Kashmiri Pandit community—from Jammu to Johannesburg and Delhi to Dallas—hailed the government’s decision to read down Article 370. Their jubilant celebrations were plastered on the front pages of newspapers and found cozy accommodation in the gung-ho nationalism of news channels. News channels saw the coverage of the lockdown of the Valley as a very minor issue, something they considered subservient to the ‘national interest’. Besides, it was justified by raising the prospect of Kashmiri pandits being rehabilitated in the Valley after close to three decades.