JAMMU MARCH 28:(KNS) Making a passionate appeal for safe, dignified and secured return of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley by rising above party politics, Sr National Conference leader and former minister Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today demanded constitution of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe the circumstances leading to their tragic and unfortunate exodus.
“If the BJP is really sincere towards the Kashmiri Pandits, constitution of such a Commission is imperative to find out the truth”, Mr Sadhotra said while interacting with prominent political activists who joined the National Conference here this morning, adding that Dr Farooq Abdullah has been seeking the setting up of fact finding commission over the years.
Mr Sadhotra also recalled the speech made by the former Chief Minister Mr Omar Abdullah in Legislative Assembly, seeking formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into the migration from the Valley.
He said the National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah and the Vice President Mr Omar Abdullah have all along remained in the forefront to seek the return of the KPs to their homes and hearths, as they form inalienable part of the Kashmir society and the bondage between different segments of the society in the Valley. He recalled the oft repeated assertion of Dr Abdullah about Kashmir being incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits and said that the party has been single-mindedly working towards achieving this objective to restore pristine glory of the land of sages and suffis.
Mr Sadhotra said that all the stakeholders should be taken into confidence for generating a conducive atmosphere for the return of Kashmiri Pandits. Hiding behind the The Kashmir Files is inappropriate for the BJP, which did not walk the talk and failed in ensuring the return of the displaced people during the past seven years. He said the exodus of the KPs is sad and every right thinking person across the world would condemn what happened on
January 19, 1990.
“The alien gun culture has left the scars but the pluralistic ethos of Jammu and Kashmir continues to remain intact”, Mr Sadhotra said, adding that this is the biggest strength of this part of the country.
The former minister lamented the attempts of politicizing the humanitarian issue, saying that the situation demands constructive steps to be initiated without losing any further time so that the displaced community feels a sense of belonging. There is no space for rhetoric and their return should be top on the agenda in order to restore back the glory of the Valley, which had been a beautiful vase of different flowers. He said the National Conference, which has withstood the test of times since its inception especially during the horrendous partition in 1947 by maintaining communal amity and brotherhood will play its designated role in this regard.
Mr Sadhotra welcomed the new entrants and hoped that with their joining the National Conference will be further strengthened at the grass roots level. Those who joined the NC included Ankush Jamwal, Sonu Choudhary, Akash Jamwal, Ayush Sharma, Ajay Jamwal, Arun Jamwal, Arjun Singh, Vishal Singh Thakur, Rahul Dev.(KNS)