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Mirpur sabha to build rest house in Pakistan occupied Kashmir

Jammu: Demolishing six decades-old walls of separation, Hindu refugees here will build a rest house for Muslims who come to meet their relatives in Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The decision was taken by the Mirpur Mahajan Sabha at its meeting under the chairmanship of Karam Veer Gupta. Almost all Hindus from Mirpur migrated to this side of Line of Control during 1947. “We want to forget the 1947 phase when we had to flee our homeland,” Mr. Gupta the brain behind the rest house idea told The Hindu.

“It is an effort to restore our ethnic and cultural links with PoK Muslims and at the same time strengthen the secular fabric of our State.”

“Our community, which had come here as refugees in 1947, has become economically self-reliant with sheer hard work. We have the financial strength to make this project successful,” he said. A deputation from the sabha would soon meet Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and apprise him of the broad contours of this project.

In 1947, the Hindu-cum-Sikh population migrated en masse from the PoK after a tribal raid forced non-Muslims to migrate from the belt after centuries of harmonious existence.

Later, there was little contact between the two sides. But as soon as the Line of Control softened in April 2005, PoK residents visited the colonies of migrants settled here.

This gesture has generated a jubilant response and they have been welcomed warmly. In 2005, the visiting former Chief Justice of the POK High Court Abdul Majeed Malick got an emotional welcome from the Hindu PoK community.

Following this a delegation comprising five migrants applied for a Pakistan visa – not permit - to go to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

The Pakistan government made an exception and allowed it to make a visit in March 2006.

The five members described their trip as an unforgettable emotional experience.

Now, the sabha’s decision is a step towards institutionalising the emerging emotional and secular ties between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir

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