Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: AIKS team led by its president, Dr Ramesh Raina held a meeting with Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Chairman National Commission for Minorities (NCM) here, today.
Dr Raina was accompanied by Anoop Koul, Chairman Sampooran Kashmir, Padma Shri Prof Sudhir Sopory (senior vice president AIKS), Alka Lahori and Dr Manorama Bakhshi, vice presidents of AIKS.
Dr Raina apprised NCM chairman about the dilemma of the policy of treating the Muslims of the State as a majority group at the State level and a minority at the national level; on the other hand, the abject Kashmiri Pandit minority of Kashmir treated and linked with the Hindu majority of the country thereby denying them the legitimate minority space in the Valley of Kashmir. This stance is a clear repudiation of the no-minority concept in the Valley.
If the clear cut national policy on minorities is to be enforced in letter and spirit, then all the privileges and facilities extended to Kashmir as part of a national minority should be withdrawn, he said.
He recalled that on several occasions Wajahat Habibullah and Prof Tahir Mahmood, the then Chairmen of National Commission for Minorities had written to the Home Minister and also to Dr Farooq Abdullah, the then Chief Minister of J&K, that Kashmiri Pandits deserve to be given the minority status and National Commission for Minorities played a significant role in this regard.
He said that Kashmir today has been reduced to a monolithic society in the absence of minorities and urged the Government to take strong, innovative and out-of-box decisions and create a legitimate minority space for Pandits in Kashmir consistent with secular and multi-cultural ethos of the rest of the country. “By minority space, we mean that as the Aborigines, Kashmiri Pandits constitute a factorial importance in the socio-cultural construct of Kashmir”. Therefore, the need for recognizing Kashmiri Pandits as a minority in Kashmir becomes all the more important.
Anoop Koul, chairman Sampooran Kashmir, said that the time had come when Government of the day deals with the issue of grant of minority status to Kashmiri Pandits decisively and with clarity.
Prof Sudhir Sopory, described the situation in Kashmir as grave for non-Muslim minorities in general and PM package employees in particular.
He urged the Government to take strong and effective measures to grant minority status to KPs and prevent another displacement from happening.
Alka Lahori and Dr Manorama Bakshi urged the NCM to take necessary steps needed in this matter.
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