'No Israeli-Type Settlement,' Says Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Rejecting Separate Townships for Kashmiri Pandits

Amid a row over a plan for separate zones in Jammu and Kashmir for displaced Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said he would not allow "Israeli-type settlements."

"I have told the home minister that they can't stay separately. If it happens then everyone will stay together. It is a symbol of our diversity. There is no plan, no decision...but it is being floated that a separate homeland will be created. That is not possible," Mr Sayeed said in the state assembly, where opposition parties raised protests.

Earlier this week, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked Mr Sayeed to identify land for "composite townships" for Kashmir Pandits who left the Valley when the first wave of militancy began 25 years ago.

Mr Sayeed's party PDP, which governs Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the BJP, says these townships will not exclusively house Kashmiri Pandits.

Even after the Chief Minister's statement, Mr Singh indicated that there would be no going back on the plan. "I don't want to go into details. Whatever decision was taken by the central government for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits...the decision remains the same," he said.

The proposal has sparked protests in the Kashmir Valley, with separatists even drawing parallels to Israeli settlements in Palestine.
"In the garb of the return of Kashmiri Pandits, a State within a State is being created. It is a ploy to make Kashmir the next Palestine and rob people of their land," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairman of the separatist Hurriyat conference.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has warned against "ghettoization."

"I very much doubt very many Kashmiri Pandits would like to return to the valley just to be housed in ghettos, segregated and isolated," he said.

About three lakh Pandits had left the Valley in the 1990s. Many of those 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.