Parliamentary Committee has woken up to the long pending demand of Kashmiri Pandits to grant them minority status in the State. There seems some misunderstanding. Let us straighten the matter. Minority status cannot be and should not be granted on the basis of their (KPs) “pitiable condition” as reflected by the Parliament Committee. It is insult to the proud community. They demand minority status on the basis of the ground realities and not a matter of munificence. Nowhere does the J&K State Constitution take cognizance of any minority community in the State, not to speak of Pandits alone. Yet while the Indian Constitution has set forth 4 (plus 1) religious communities of India as minorities, the State majority community makes maximum benefit of this provision. Thus it is one-way traffic. If regional, sub-regional and even sub-sub-regional identities have been given their due, and rightly so, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, why should the minorities be deprived of similar benefits. What is needed is that the State Constitution has to be amended and space created for State religious minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Shias, Ahmadias and others under some duly considered formula.
As far as rehabilitation of the Pandits is concerned, neither the State nor the Centre has any pragmatic and viable formula on the table that is acceptable to the Pandits.
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