The Hindu : National : Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Janmashtami after 15 years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004

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Kashmiri Pandits celebrate Janmashtami after 15 years

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, SEPT. 7. Chanting hymns and waving saffron flags, Kashmiri Pandits today marched through Srinagar to celebrate Janmashtami for the first time since militancy broke out in Kashmir in 1989.

Amid tight security arrangements, scores of Pandits took out a procession from Dalgate that culminated at the Durganag temple.

"We are happy to take out this march as we see the situation improving," said the president of the Hindu Welfare Society of Kashmir, M.L. Bhat.

Another Kashmiri Pandit, Mohan Lal, said it was the most satisfying day of his life. All the participants said they had prayed for the return of peace to the Valley.

The symbolic march sent the message that peace was returning to the Valley.

The "attractive" package offered by the Government to the Kashmiri Pandits has not yielded a positive response. The Government is constructing a small township in Budgam district to rehabilitate those who want to return.

The Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Government has promised employment in the coming months to one person in each family which stayed on in the Valley. Those who live here also want the migrants to return. "We want Kashmir's composite culture to be revived" said C. L. Vishen, a noted educationist.

With the emergence of militancy, more than 200,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled to safer places in India but at least 10,000 stayed on in the Valley.

Height of devotion: Page 20

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