The issue was in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly today
The proposal to build "composite townships" for displaced Kashmiri Pandits has sparked a massive row in the Kashmir Valley. Opposition leader Omar Abdullah has warned against "ghettos." Separatist Yasin Malik has called for a "peaceful protest" and strike this week.
Here are the 10 developments:
After union home minister Rajnath Singh asked the state's chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to provide land for "composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits," questions are being asked in the valley on whether these townships will exclusively house rehabilitated Kashmiri Pandits.
Omar Abdullah who heads the National Conference tweeted, "I will do everything possible to support the return of Pandits to the valley in keeping with our composite culture & Kashmiriyat." Mr Abdullah, former J&K chief minister, also tweeted, "No right minded Kashmiri will support the ghettoisation of Kashmiri Pandits, housed in segregated inherently unsafe camps in the valley...I very much doubt very many Kashmiri Pandits would like to return to the valley just to be housed in ghettos, segregated & isolated."
At the meeting with Rajnath Singh, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed "assured the union Home Minister that the state government will acquire and provide land at the earliest," the home ministry said in a statement.
An independent legislator Engineer Rashid raised the issue in the J&K assembly today, saying, "Pandits are welcome to return to Kashmir but the government won't be allowed to build separate townships for them in the valley."
Yasin Malik, who heads the separatist Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, said, "We won't allow these townships of hatred and will oppose it tooth and nail...This is an attempt by the BJP to divide the people of J&K on religious lines."
Mufti's party, the ruling People's Democratic Party, indicated that the proposed townships will not exclusively house Kashmiri Pandits, but was not explicit. The PDP governs J&K in alliance with the BJP, which is the ruling party at the Centre.
"It is going to be a composite township, everybody must understand the meaning of the word composite - we are bound to bring back Kashmiri Pandits, who are a part of our life, with honour and dignity. We are incomplete without them. And it is not a time-bound process," said Nayeem Akhtar, spokesperson for the PDP.
In Jammu, there are many Kashmiri Pandits like Romi Kaul, 23, whose family was driven out of the valley before she was born. Ten members of the family live in one room, but the idea of returning to Srinagar is tinged with fear. "When army and policemen are not safe in Kashmir, how can Kashmiri Pandits be safe there?" asks the university student.
About three lakh Pandits had left the Valley when the first wave of militancy began 25 years ago. Many of the 1200 odd Pandits who did return in 2007 under a government job scheme say they are not happy. They live in migrant colonies and do not have basic amenities like a ration card or even a voter ID card.
"We want the government to build colonies not just for pandits, but where people from other religious faiths can also live" said Sandeep Bhat a resident of Sheikhpora Pandit Colony in Budgam.
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