Pak scribes in Pandits' line of ire

JAMMU: It was a paradoxical welcome for a group of 18 Pakistani journalists who have come here for the first time ever since the partition of India.
The scribes, who were greeted with hugs and garlands, became target of Kashmiri Pandits'' ire within minutes. The bitterness against Pakistan, rumbling inside over the past 15 years, ruptured like a volcano at Kashmiri Pandit migrant camp.
In shabby clothes, Pandits rushed and huddled Pakistani journalists, shouting, "Because of you, we are shelterless and in these one room hutments."
More than 3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits migrated in the wake of ''Pakistan-sponsored militancy and ethnic cleansing'' in 1990s from Kashmir valley.Around 50,000 migrants are putting up in one-room hutments in Jammu.
Even as young boys were carrying placards welcoming Pakistani journalists who are in Jammu on the mission to facilitate Indo-Pak peace process, the elderly Pandits spilled out indictment and fury.
A grey haired Pandit told Imtiyaz Alam, Secretary General of South Asian Free Media Association, "We have a strong grudge against Pakistani media. The Muslims of Gujarat got justice because Indian media fought for them."
"But in the past 15 years, Pakistani media remained silent on the violation of our human rights and instead supported ethnic cleansing in the Valley," he added.
The migrants accused Pakistani media of having become a tool in propaganda against Hindus and India.
Another Pandit among the fuming crowd bellowed, "It is not a freedom movement in Kashmir. Had it been, I too would have been a part of it. But the truth is that it''s a war between Muslims of Kashmir and other minority communities."
He said, "We have been thrown out because we are Hindus."
Panun Kashmir Movement president Ashwani Chrangoo said, "We were killed because of the guns and gunpowder you sent to Kashmir."
A youngster from the crowd at this instance yelled, "Take this message from here - we all feel that Pakistan is a terrorist nation. Stop sending guns to Kashmir."
"Let us live in peace and don''t propagate Islamic fundamentalism," he added.
With humility, Pakistani journalists gave a patient audience to the irate migrant crowd. While walking through narrow and stinky lanes of the camp, the group faced wrath of women too.
The air echoed with cries as Usha Rani Datta in tearful eyes narrated how her husband was killed by Pakistani-sponsored militants in 1990. "I have been widowed because of Pakistan," she lamented.