Pandits ‘integral part of Kashmir’, says Mehbooba

PDP president meets them in Delhi, calls for their dignified return

December 09, 2021 02:36 am | Updated 02:36 am IST - Srinagar

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday met a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits in New Delhi and called their dignified return as one of the unfinished agenda of her party.

Calling for community-based reconciliatory efforts to bridge the gaps, Ms. Mufti said, “Kashmiri Pandits are an integral part of the Kashmiri society and their dignified return was one of the unfinished agenda of the PDP.”

She said Kashmir was incomplete without Pandits. “Greater and constant communication between the two communities is paramount to bridge the gap. You are always missed back home. Your exodus has hurt us too and we want you to return in a dignified manner,” she said.

Ms. Mufti urged the youth of the two communities to be at the forefront of initiatives of reconciliation.

“The new generation from both Kashmiri Muslim and Kashmiri Pandit community have had no interaction and thus don’t know much about each other. The distances between us have only grown. If we want to make a headway in community reconciliation, our youth have to interact and know each other better.”

She said the pain and suffering of the Kashmiri Pandits has been weaponised by some political parties. “A deliberate and concerted effort is being made through hateful television debates to further the wedge between the two communities. A sinister design is in play to deepen the fault lines between the two communities in furtherance of communal and divisive agenda. They want us to hate each other,” the former Chief Minister said.

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