‘Damaged religious places to be re-constructed’
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 18; Union Home Minister Amit Shah said today that Kashmiri Pandit migrants will be rehabilitated in Kashmir and their property which has been encroached upon in the Valley will be restored and damaged religious places reconstructed.
Shah gave this assurance to seven-member delegation of Kashmiri Pandits who called on him in New Delhi today.
The Home Minister reportedly told the Kashmiri Pandit delegation that all steps were being taken to finish terrorism in Kashmir and ensure rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandit migrants in the Valley.
“Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit migrants is top priority for the Government and steps were being taken in this regard,” Shah was reported to have assured the Pandit delegation.
The Home Minister is understood to have assured the delegation that their property which they had left in Kashmir at the time of migration and which has been encroached upon will be restored to them.
He also assured re-construction of the temples damaged in Kashmir.
According to reports, the Kashmiri Pandits who met Shah gave some suggestions to him on their return to the Valley and facilities required till then at the places where they were putting up for last three decades.
Utpal Kaul, a leader of Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) told reporters after meeting with Shah in New Deli that the discussions were held in cordial manner.
He said the delegation congratulated the Modi Government for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A which was a long pending demand.
“The issue of KPs genocide and how the houses and other property of Pandits was destroyed in Kashmir by the fundamentalist elements, and militants figured in the meeting and we demanded our resettlement in homeland,” Kaul said.
He added that the Home Minister informed the delegation that Government is working for rehabilitation and return of displaced Pandits from Kashmir and “We will construct colonies to settle them there”. They will be provided complete security and jobs for their rehabilitation, he added while quoting Shah.
Kaul, however, said that no deadline was given about the rehabilitation plan of the displaced Pandits by the HM but he added that the Government is seriously working on it.
Kaul said it is a problem of big magnitude. “But Government of India is going to settle this problem on priority basis,” he added.
He said it was the first meeting of Kashmiri Pandits with the Union Home Minister and a dialogue process has been started which will go further. He expressed the hope that one day the Pandits will return and settle in their homeland.
The delegation members included US based GKPD leader, Surinder Kaul, president All India Kashmiri Samaj, Capt. (Retd) Tej Tickoo, J K VM chief, Sanjay Ganjoo, GKPD leader Utpal Kaul, Parikshat etc.
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