‘DECISION ON PANDITS’ SETTLEMENT VICTORY OF KASHMIRI PEOPLE’

Posted on May 8, 2015

The forum patronized by the veteran Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front have termed Indian government’s retreat over its plan of setting up separate townships for the Kashmiri Pandits as victory of the people of the territory. The forum in a statement in Srinagar said that it was the victory of the endeavour, unity and brotherhood of the Kashmiri people and defeat for the communal mindset. “All the formalities regarding the separate townships were completed from Delhi to Srinagar and Mufti Sayeed had also assured the allotment of land to the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh but the united stand of the resistance leadership over this issue dissipated the Israeli pattern of policies of the New Delhi and they now understood that all Kashmiris including the Pandit brothers will not allow anybody to divide Jammu and Kashmir on religious lines,” it said. The statement maintained that one day the government of India would similarly shun its rigid and stubborn stand with regard to the Kashmir dispute and would accept the reality and on that day they would be left with no other option other than to give the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It said that the u-turn of the Indian government on the issue had strengthened the resolve of the Kashmiri people and their trust got further firmer that one day the rulers of India would announce in their Parliament that Kashmiris would be given their right to self-determination. The JKLF Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, in an interview in Srinagar described the Indian government’s decision as an endorsement of the collective message given by people of all religions in occupied Kashmir. He said that the people of all religions in Kashmir including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Kashmir’s native Pandit community in one voice made it clear that fragmentation of society on the basis of religion would be unacceptable. “Through marches, protest sit-ins, demonstrations, seminars and hunger strikes, the Muslims, Pandits, Sikhs and Christians in Kashmir with unanimity gave one voice that they want to live together in the land which is known for communal harmony and brotherhood,” he added. It is to mention here that the Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, in a written reply in Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) on Tuesday said that no proposal to create separate zones for the Kashmiri Pandits in occupied Kashmir was under consideration. Meanwhile, the President of Awami Ittihaad Party and member of the so-called Assembly, Engineer Rasheed, has asked the puppet Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, to make a categorical announcement that not even an inch of land was being or would be given for the separate townships for the Pandits.
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