New Delhi, Sep 2 (KNS); Raising questions over National Conference president Farooq Abdullah's recent remarks on threat letters to Kashmiri Pandits, the Jammu and Kashmir Peace Forum on Wednesday said the former chief minister was "missing the heart of the issue" by equating the safety of serving officers with the rehabilitation of a displaced community.

In a statement, forum chairman Satish Mahaldar said government officers from outside the Union Territory operate under state protection, whereas displaced Kashmiri Pandits are attempting to return to ancestral homes abandoned over three decades ago.

"These two realities cannot be placed on the same scale," Mahaldar said.

Abdullah had earlier this week said Hindu officers from outside Jammu and Kashmir were serving safely in the Valley, while questioning the veracity of recent threat letters targeting Kashmiri Pandits, and suggested that "daal mein kuch kaala hai" — implying something was amiss.

Mahaldar said if the letters were fake, those responsible should be investigated and exposed, and if genuine, the perpetrators punished. "But questioning one letter cannot become a way of questioning the fears of an entire displaced community," he added.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

The forum chief also drew attention to a 2009 undertaking by the then Jammu and Kashmir government before the Supreme Court concerning rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, including land allocation through Cooperative Group Housing Societies.

"Seventeen years have passed. Where is the promised land? Where is the rehabilitation? Where is the permanent return?" Mahaldar asked.

While welcoming Abdullah's stated support for the "absolute right" of Kashmiri Pandits to return, the forum said such rights could not remain confined to political speeches.

"A right that cannot be exercised is a promise. A promise delayed for 17 years becomes a political accountability question," Mahaldar said.

The statement said the real issue was not whether one threat letter contained "kaala", but why — 36 years after displacement and 17 years after the Supreme Court undertaking — Kashmiri Pandits were still waiting to return home with security, dignity and permanence.

"Kashmiri Pandits do not need another political assurance that Kashmir is their home. They need the state to make living there a reality. That is not charity," the forum chairman said in a statement. (KNS)