The Hindu : 'Pandits must come back'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

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National

'Pandits must come back'

By Luv Puri

JAMMU, FEB. 14. On Valentine's Day Kashmiri Muslims expressed their affection for the Pandits driven away by terrorists from their homes and yearned for their return.

At a seminar organised by the "Action Committee for Return of migrants" here an attempt was made to promote a better understanding between the Pandits who had migrated en masse in 1990 and Kashmir separatist leaders. And, a platform was provided for both to air their views and suggest ways for the return of the migrants.The Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party chief, Shabir Shah, struck an emotional chord by terming the exodus as Kashmir's worst calamity. "Nobody should try to play politics on this issue. By getting the Pandits back to the Valley we are only saving the soul of Kashmir that has a history of 5,000 years. We should not merely pay lip service for their return but something concrete needs to be done," he said, while asking them [Pandits] to specifically suggest measures for their return and asserting that the silent majority wanted them back.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman, Moulvi Abbas Ansari, (whose speech was read out in absentia) said: " Both Muslims and Pandits are incomplete without each other. The Kashmiriyat (soul of Kashmir) would revive only with the revival of the harmonious existence of the two communities." Terming the Pandits as the intellectual elite of Kashmir, he said, "Kashmiri Pandits do not have to live in ghettoised zones but have to live with their heads held high in their own land. Whomsoever is an obstacle for their return is the enemy of Kashmir."

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