The Hindu : New Delhi News : Centre should initiate dialogue with Pandits: Panun Kashmir

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Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
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Centre should initiate dialogue with Pandits: Panun Kashmir

Staff Reporter

Central, State Governments accused of being “indifferent” towards community

NEW DELHI: Panun Kashmir Movement, a faction seeking a separate homeland for Kashmiri Pandits, on Tuesday said the Central Government should take immediate steps to initiate a dialogue with the displaced community.

A PKM delegation led by its president Ashwani K. Chrungoo accused the governments at the Centre and the State of being “indifferent” to the Pandits and said any talks to resolve the Kashmir problem would be inconclusive without the participation of the minority community.

“During the time of the exodus, the State and the Central government were indifferent to us (Pandits). And in the past 18 years not much has changed. It is high time that the Central Government begins a dialogue with us,” said Mr. Chrungoo, who is currently in Delhi leading a “Sankalp Yatra” aimed at drawing attention to the issues of displacement and human rights violation of the minorities in Kashmir.

Mr. Chungroo said the community feels let down by the State Administration as well as by the National Human Rights Commission. “We have been demanding that till the time a separate homeland is provided to the minorities in Kashmir, Pandits should be identified as internally displaced people and provided aid as is mandated by the United Nations,” he added.

“Realise the plight”

He said the entire country needs to wake up to the plight of the Pandits and perceive the Kashmir problem as a “question of national security”.

“Everything in Kashmir has been affected by fundamentalism and terrorist activities. So severe has been the impact that even the ecology has not been spared,” Mr. Chungroo said. “This Sankalp Yatra that began on November 11 from Srinagar will travel to nine States and create awareness about such issues.”

Panun Kashmir has been seeking a separate homeland for Pandits in the North and East of river Jhelum, which will be governed by the Indian Constitution.

The yatra began from Sheetalnath, on the banks of the Jhelum, and has already covered Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir. It will now head to Jaipur and move to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

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