Srinagar 31 March (KNS): Kashmiri Pandit (KP) organization has urged the Lt Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha to develop a new Township in Kashmir Valley for return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
“The return of Pandits to Kashmir, their motherland and the land of their ancestors since antiquity, remains a major unresolved challenge of our times. The wounds that have scarred the victims, presently scattered all over India and the globe, may never be healed until the dark memories of the exodus are not expunged from their collective conscience,” said Vijay Sazawal, International coordinator of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), Washington DC, Indo-Canadian Kashmir Forum (ICKF), Ottawa and Indo-European Kashmir Forum (IEKF), London and Geneva.
As per the statement issued to kashmir news service-(KNS), Sazawal said this will require a fresh new determined effort by the Union Territory (UT) and the Government of India given that in the past three decades, the corrupt and immoral political leadership of the J&K State exhibited total insincerity and indifference towards the return of the Pandits to the valley.
He said the pathway to the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits with dignity and honor will require both a near-term focus addressing those families that are ready to return in the next 2-5 years, and a long-term focus intended for those Kashmiri families that have settled elsewhere (given that the State did not assist their return for over three decades and a generation has passed away), but would return to the valley if facilities and infrastructure are created in the valley that are comparable to various modern cities in India like Bengaluru, Hyderabad Hi Tech City, Gurugram, Pune, etc.
Sazawal urged the LG to give a serious consideration to developing a new Township – a greenfield smart city – in the Kashmir valley that will attract the “best of the best” from the Kashmiri diaspora back into the valley regardless of their religion or faith, so long as they meet the State domicile requirements.(KNS)