Kashmiri Pandits rehabilitation only possible if 'separate homeland' is created: Panun

Jammu, April 29: Panun Kashmir, an organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, on Monday reiterated that the rehabilitation of the community was only possible if a "separate homeland" with the status of "Union Territory" was created within the valley.

"Panun Kashmir wants a return to freedom and not a return to the servitude of a Muslim State. When we demand the creation of a Union Territory, North and East of river Jhelum in Kashmir valley, we could be rehabilitated, it is not political positioning. It is in fact the only way to ensure the return," said the convener of Panun Kashmir Agnishekhar.

The situation in the Kashmir has become such that the creation of "Panun Kashmir" has become inevitable not only for Kashmiri Pandits but for the whole of India and also for the success of the global war on terror, and establishment of peace in the region, he said.

He said that there were "victim collaborators" within the community and PDP-led government has been harnessing them for their expediency and the move to rehabilitate the community was aimed at gaining political mileage by denying the "genocide that the community faced in Kashmir".

"Governments of the day, during all these years, have harnessed them for their expediency. Governments have done so because they have been seeking peace with the perpetrators," he said.

The organisation said that the faith and support in the 'Margadarshan Resolution' (demand for homeland) was the only way forward.

"Panun Kashmir assures the community and the Patriotic People of India that together they would work for creating a resurgent India, for restoring India in that Kashmir, which would be free of any encumbrances of the superfluous and temporary Article 370," said chairman of Panun Kashmir Ajay Chrungoo said.

He also alleged that the reported process initiated by the government of India towards the return and rehabilitation of the community to the Kashmir valley was done without even consulting the community.

"However, as soon as the news with regard to government moves became public Muslim leadership across the political divide in Kashmir valley rejected the return of Kashmiri Pandits to any kind of secured settlements in the valley.

"This unanimous rejection of the return of Kashmiri Hindus to Kashmir Valley by the entire spectrum of the Kashmiri leadership is a clear reminder that the forced expulsion of Kashmiri Hindus was not an act committed by a few," he said.

He said that there was a widespread societal connivance in the entire operation of religious cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits .

"It is also a reminder of the fact that Kashmiri Muslim leadership is an integral part of a fundamentalist, intolerant and exclusivist religious monolith," he said.

PTI