Few Kashmiri Pandits tempted by generous offers to return home

The memory of the day masked Muslim militants stormed into her house in Kashmir, tied up her elderly parents, and dragged her out into a gun battle with the police is fresh in Dr Shakti Khanna's mind, more than 19 years later - but still she longs to return to the home of her childhood.

'They used me as a human shield to get away,' said Khanna, whose family were among the 250,000 Kashmiri Hindus who fled the valley after a violent Muslim rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989.

Finding themselves in exile in their own country, Khanna's parents hated the heat of New Delhi. They spent their last years pining for the cool air and meadows of Kashmir.

'They died dreaming of going back. They had wanted us to take their ashes and bury them under their favourite cedar tree in the garden but we were too scared,' Khanna said. Yet despite the profound yearning to return, she has no intention of accepting the Kashmir government's recent invitation to Kashmiri Pandits - high-caste Hindus.

In a special package formally launched last week, the government offered 6,000 jobs, 750,000 rupees (HK$121,000) per family to renovate or rebuild homes, paid accommodation until those homes are ready, and financial help for two years until they have successfully resettled.

Until now, Kashmiri Pandits had refused to return for the same reason they fled in the first place - the fear of being killed by Islamic militants who will not tolerate any Hindus in their fight to create a Muslim state.