Bashir Assad
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 9: Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Thursday made it clear that there is no proposal for separate homeland for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
Responding to the hue and cry raised in the Legislative Assembly by opposition Congress and the National Conference (NC) legislators over the government's alleged proposal to set up composite townships for migrant Pandits in the Valley, Mufti said, "We have no proposal to set up separate satellite townships for migrant Pandits."
"We will take all the stakeholders into confidence," Mufti said. He said that his government would "create an environment of secularism in the Valley."
"The issue should not be politicized," Mufti said. "This is a human issue and we don't want to create an Israel (like situation). We want the people of all the communities to live together."
Mufti said reports that his government had identified 500 kanals of land for a separate colony for migrant Pandits in the Valley were "totally false".
"I want to ensure that the secular identity and Jammu and Kashmir's diversity remain intact. So there is no question of separate homeland to Kashmiri Pandits," he said.
Mufti had reportedly assured Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday that his government would immediately start the process for creating separate zones for the Pandits in the Valley.
However, he came under attack from both mainstream as well as separatists who sniffed a conspiracy in his promise to New Delhi.
"We want them to return to their native places and live honourably among Muslim neighbours. Because of misinformation, an impression is being created that separate clusters would be set up for Pandits," the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that during the previous Congress-NC rule, "5,000 to 8,000 government jobs were given to migrant Pandits with the condition that they would serve in the Valley. The only honourable way for their return is to places where they lived before migration," he said.
Despite the Chief Minister's clarification, opposition members continued to cause a din in the Assembly, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House.
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