SRINAGAR: If the rate at which abandoned houses here are being sold off is any indication, Kashmiri Pandits are saying goodbye to their native land probably for good. The sale of ‘migrants’ property’ has suddenly picked up after the parliamentary elections and is mostly confined to urban centers. “Earlier, I was not getting good money for my house,” says a Delhi based engineer who had come to settle a deal for disposing of his palatial house in the city’s outskirts, He even risked his life by visiting Chadura, a militant dominated area, to register a sale deed at the local court.
The brisk sales have spawned a clandestine nexus of property agents that is tapped by both buyers and sellers. According to one agent who did not want to be named, most of those who want to sell off their property are Hindus who left in the wake of militancy and are now afraid to visit the Valley. It is here that agents step in. They broker the deals, arrange for the transfer of money and get a commissions, Government officials say they are aware of the brisk sale of Hindu property and. admit that this will induce demographic changes in Kashmir. But they plead helplessness. “What can we do to stop it?” a senior government functionary said. “Migrants cannot wait eternally for peace to return to Kashmir and are, therefore, trying to settle themselves outside the state.” Ironically, the Government had tried to extract political capital when about eight families of Baramulla returned to Kashmir immediately after elections. However, this trickle of those returning hasn’t picked up since. 7 Militants and counter militant groups have banned the sale of migrant property for different reasons. Pro Pakistan militants believe in distribution of migrants’ property among the victims of their own favorites. For their part, counterinsurgent groups like the JK Ikhawan have banned the sale on moral grounds, Kukka Parrey, patron of the group, says it is “highly unethical” to exploit hapless migrants by purchasing property at throwaway prices. The migrants are reportedly selling their property at half the market Tate prevalent before militancy. He and his political party, the J&K Awami League, are claiming that they want to bring the Hindus back to Kashmir.
Meanwhile, traditional political parties like the Congress and the National Conference have been paying lip service to the cause of migrants return to the Valley. But ever since the migrants voted en bloc for the BJP in the parliamentary elections, even that has stopped.
Most migrants feel that Kashmir will remain disturbed for long and an imminent return is impractical. “Where will my child find a job in Kashmir?” asks the mother of an engineering trainee. She says her family is “sick” of living in rented houses in New Delhi and would like to purchase one after disposing of their property on the outskirts of Srinagar.
About 4,000 houses belonging to migrants have been destroyed by militants during the past seven years.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1996
