Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 13: Non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits today asked State Government to come clear on their rehabilitation policy and demanded that they should be treated at par with displaced Pandits.
Hindu Welfare Society Kashmir (HWSK), which is apex body of non-migrant Pandits based in Valley, alleged that Government is showing no interest towards their rehabilitation even as a Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) was constituted last year to look into their rehabilitation.
The HWSK president, Chunni Lal, said that the internally displaced Pandits have been running from pillar to post for several years but the successive regimes have failed them. He said after setting up of the CSC headed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh last year, they were hoping that Government would take note of their problems and demands.
“Nearly 700 Pandit families are living in Kashmir valley, who preferred to stay here during the peak years of turmoil in 1990. However, they left their ancestral homes and moved towards city and other townships in Kashmir. They are living in rented accommodations and paying huge amount of rent every month,” said HWSK president, adding that the Government should at least provide accommodation and jobs to these families.
Chunni Lal informed that the verification for their rehabilitation was completed during the tenure of late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed but since then there has been no further development.
The HWSK, which represents 51 families, said they are not against the rehabilitation of migrant Pandits but the State and Central Governments should also take their care as well. “Out of 3000 jobs announced under Prime Minister’s employment package, 300 were reserved for non-migrant Hindus but none of our youths have been appointed so far,” he said.
Appealing Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her deputy, Dr Nirmal Singh to rehabilitate the non-migrant Hindus on humanitarian grounds, the HWSK president said that they are facing multiple problems and are running from pillar to post since last two decades.
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