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A Kashmiri Pandit, with a difference

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Bhushan Bazaz has the unique distinction of being the only Kashmiri Pandit who has received an invitation from the Pakistani High Commissioner in India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi to meet the Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf at 'High Tea' on Saturday.

Incidentally, the former chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq stays at his residence when he comes to Delhi.

A nondescript owner of Pamposh publications, Bhushan confirmed that despite protests from the Kashmiri Pandits he would attend the tea party.

"I am definitely going for the tea party," he said.

"My father Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz was the founding member of the National Conference. He had his own party called Socialist Party of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the first one from the Kashmiri Pandit community who supported the view that Kashmiris should be given the right of self-determination. And he said this in 1947 itself," he said.

"My father wrote a book called 'The History of Struggle for Freedom of Kashmir' wherein he had said that the elections in the state were not free and fair and if this continues then one day Kashmiris would resort to gun culture. His prophecy has come true and we are seeing the worst of terrorism in Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits who are still in the Valley are those who share my father's point of view," he claimed.

When asked as to what the solution to the Kashmir problem is he said, "We should give what the people of Kashmir want."

"I do not agree with those who say that we should boycott meeting certain people. What do you achieve by boycotting the 'High Tea'. You should go and put forward your point of view just as the Hurriyat people are doing," he said.

He argued that a separate homeland for the Kashmiri Pandits is not a feasible idea as the Pandits would become sitting ducks for the militants.

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