Srinagar, May 17 : Displaced Kashmiri Pandits came to celebrate the Sumbli Mawas festival after 36 years in Jammu and Kashmirâ??s Bandipora district on Sunday.

Scores of migrant Kashmiri Pandits came to the historic Nand Kishore temple in the Sumbal area of Bandipora after decades to celebrate the three-day-long Sumbli Mawas festival.

The festival, celebrated on the birth anniversary of Kashmiri Pandit Saint, Maharaj Nand Kishore, is being attended by migrant Pandits from different parts of the country.

For the migrant Pandits who originally belonged to the Sumbal area, it is an opportunity to return to their roots. As these Pandits met their old neighbours, the barriers of religion and politics seemed to have vanished. Both Muslims and Pandits wept together, cursing destiny to have separated them.

Many well-known Kashmiri Pandit families owned lands in the Sumbal area, most of which was under apple orchards. Over the years, these huge pieces of land have been covered with houses and shops. Most Kashmiri Pandit families made distress sales of their ancestral properties, while in many cases, such lands were encroached upon and illegally occupied during the peak periods of violence in the Valley.

Authorities have made elaborate security and administrative arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora Indu Kanwal Chib visited the shrine and participated in special prayers, while the Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora, reviewed security arrangements ahead of the celebrations.

Scars of forced migration run deep in the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri Pandit community, and the suffering and pain have been felt more by the elders in the early 1990s. The community was forced to flee the valley when it was overshadowed by Pakistan-backed terrorism. Lakhs of the minority community members, leaving behind houses, lands and other properties, were forced to take refuge in Jammu and other parts of the country. And most have not been able to return.

Sumbal in Bandipura is now witnessing a heartwarming moment as some community members gather for the special occasion.

/IANS