Kashmiri pandits will be taken into confidence on Kashmir issue:APHC

Srinagar, Apr 14 (UNI) Urging migrant Kashmiri pandits to return to their soil, the Hurriyat Conference (Mirwaiz) today said the community members would be taken into confidence on the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Senior Hurriyat leader Shabir Ahmad Shah said the HC was ready to play any role which would help return of Kashmiri pandits who had migrated to different parts of the country.

Let the migrant pandits say what Hurriyat can do for their safe and honourable return here, Mr Shah said at a function organised at a Ramji Mandir at Barbar Shah near here.

He criticised the authorities for construction of apartments at Nagrota and other places in Jammu.

The government was not serious to bring Kashmiri pandits back here, he said, adding houses could have been constructed in the valley for these migrants.

He said the Kashmiri culture was incomplete without Kashmiri pandits. ''We have been living together, sharing joy and sorrow, for centuries,'' Mr Shah said.

He said though the Kashmiri pandit community has different point of view on the Kashmir issue, still they too have the right to live here in their motherland.

Mr Shah said according to the Islamic teachings, every Muslim was duty bound to safeguard the lives and property of pandits.

On the Kashmir issue, Mr Shah said the community cannot be ignored or taken for granted.

''We will take the Kashmiri pandits -- those who are residing in Kashmir valley or outside -- into confidence on the resolution of the Kashmir issue,'' Mr Shah said.

He expressed concern over the plight of pandits living in different parts of the valley.

Mr Shah, while greeting the pandit community on the occasion of Ramanavmi said Kashmir was incomplete without them.

UNI BAS KD RN1710