Want a portion of land in Valley where the constitution of India is applicable in letter and spirit.
Pandits living in migrant camps want a mini India created in Kashmir, so that they could return home.
Ravinder Raina, president of Displaced Welfare Committee of Pandits, told visiting central interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar and Radha Kumar at Muthi migrant Camp in Jammu, “Kashmiri Pandits would be satisfied with a portion of land [in the Valley]. A land where the constitution of India would be applicable in letter and spirit so that right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, faith, equality and rule of law are ensured.”
Raina, who submitted a memorandum to the interlocutors listing demands, said this portion of land should be placed under central administration with a Union territory status till it evolves its own economic and political infrastructure.
“All Kashmiri Pandits, including those who were forced to leave on account of terrorist violence in Kashmir, should be settled on this portion of land on equitable basis,” he said.
Around 59,542 pandit families have migrated from Kashmir since the onset of militancy in 1990. Of these, 34,202 families have migrated to Jammu and 21,684 are registered as migrants outside Jammu and Kashmir. Plus, 2,168 Muslim and 1,749 Sikh families have migrated from the Valley.
“We are displaced, homeless and territory-less people in our own country. To save this community, we appeal for survival till we get the portion of our land. Our social, economic and cultural rehabilitation must be ensured,” Raina said.
Kashmiri pandits had a detailed discussion with the interlocutors. “They told us they will take up our issues with the Centre. We told them on one side there are pro-Pakistan voices and on the other, people who want independence. We are Indians, where do we figure? We have told them to look into this since we are the real sufferers of militancy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has called for a boycott of the interlocutors, said the Centre should read the writing on the wall, shun rigidity and grant “freedom” to the people of Kashmir. “The rulers in Delhi should respect people’s aspirations and give them right to self-determination,” he said.
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