THE opening of the Arya Samaj School in Srinagar after 33 years offers one more pointer to the return of normalcy to the Kashmir region. This school, like many other institutions in the region, had downed its shutters when terrorism reached its filthy peak and the lives of the members of the Hindu community came under grave threat. Countless hundreds of educational institutions in the region were forced into closure as goons swooped on their premises picking up students and teachers, torturing, killing many of them, and then looting their homes and setting those on fire. Nearly half a million Hindus fled from the region and are still living in different parts of the country in refugee camps in abominable conditions. The process of their return to their own homes is yet to gather momentum. Yet, when a school reopens after 33 years’ closure, then the event is a major development whose importance is far beyond mere tokenism. As a newspaper watching the national affairs for well over a century, ‘The Hitavada’ understands the importance of this development and welcomes it wholeheartedly. When the Government withdrew the Special Status from Kashmir, a new era dawned upon the region -- which now everybody acknowledges and accepts. Though there still are people asking for revocation of that decision, the Indian people in general have understood fully the importance of the historic abrogation. For, that decision empowered the administration in Kashmir to undertake certain dynamic and dare-devil programmes in the larger interest of the common people.

 

Those measures have proved useful to the process of a fuller integration of Kashmir with the rest of the country. Seen from this perspective, the reopening of countless numbers of schools in the region indicates how the place is fast returning to normalcy. The importance of the reopening of the Arya Samaj School is far greater than any other school. Dedicated to imparting education based on Sanatan thought-process, this school -- and many others like that -- was a prime target of terror strikes and goon attacks when a systematic purge of the minority Hindu community was unleashed on the region about 35 years ago. What followed was nothing but a one-sided massacre of the Hindus -- forcing them to flee their homeland. The nation is still suffering from the ill-effects of the traumatic development that the governments of the day could stop initially and reverse subsequently. Yet, when an Arya Samaj School reopens in Srinagar, it stands testimony to a time changing for the better. However, the displaced members of the Hindu Pandit community are still waiting for justice to be given to them.

 

Their return to their homes and hearths is yet not possible, thanks to different reasons that may include inefficiency of the Kashmir administration. Or, there also could be the reason of absence of any specific or explicit direction from the Central Government to start the process of return of the Pandit community members to Kashmir. Whatever may the reason be, it is a fact that lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits are still waiting for an opportunity to return home. The situation in Kashmir is certainly far better -- and safer -- than it used to be before the abrogation of special status to the region. Yet, there is still a lot of distance to be covered before final word is obtained that everything is NORMAL in Kashmir. Not just the Kashmiri Pandit community but also the whole Indian nation now waits for that glorious moment when a complete normalcy is established in Kashmir with terrorism and separatism having been defeated fully. To bring that goal to fruition, the Government must now act on the most urgent basis -- beyond all political considerations of any kind.