Centre to Continue With Its Plan of Separate Townships For Kashmiri Pandits

NEW DELHI: The Union Home Minister has asserted the government’s commitment to rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley and reiterated its plan of separate townships for them.

Informing this, Rajnath Singh apprised the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has promised to earmark 50 acres of land as a first installment for the rehabilitation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

While replying to a two-day debate on the Demand for Grants of his Ministry, Singh asserted his government’s commitment towards rehabilitation process.

It is important to mention here that reports have suggested that the Home Ministry’s rehabilitation process includes a three-four “composite townships” of 2,500 families each for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, which includes Srinagar and Anantnag where half of the proposed flats are expected to be reserved for the Kashmiri Pandits while the rest of the land might be up for sale for the Kashmiri Muslims.

It is, therefore, strongly suspected that the Centre’s rehabilitation process is in fact this plan of separate townships for the Kashmiri Pandits.

This move has been slammed by the separatists in the Valley who claim that “creating ghettos” would rather complicate the matter. They have also urged the Pandits to return to their original homes.

In his 75-minute reply, Singh also rejected the charge that the Narendra Modi government was “soft” on separatists. As the Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge referred to hardcore separatist Masarat Alam, the Home Minister said he was put behind bars immediately after he led a pro-Pakistan protest.

The Kashmiri Pandits migrated from the Valley in 1990 after militancy erupted in the State.