Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Ignored minorities

Sir, — Neera Chandhoke's unstated assumption till the very last sentence in her article ``Why minority rights?'' (July 27) is that the minorities can only be non-Hindus. The Minorities Act, while authorising the Central Government to notify a ``minority'', excludes Jammu and Kashmir from its purview. It is understood the Minorities Commission has twice recommended the Kashmiri pandit community be notified a minority, and the Centre has written in this regard to the Jammu and Kashmir Government. The State Government resolutely ignores this recommendation. The result is that the Kashmiri pandits are in exile from their own homeland, and suffer all the disabilities against which Ms. Chandhoke argues that non-Hindus alone should be protected.

Likewise, Muchkund Dubey categorises elections in Gujarat as ``an exercise in callousness'' (July 30) because ``it is a cruel joke to ask those still homeless and jobless after the Gujarat carnage to exercise their voting rights.'' For ``Gujarat'', read ``Kashmir'', and would Mr. Dubey still make the same argument?

Krishen Kak,
New Delhi

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