Kashmiri Pandit team to visit Valley to negotiate for peace
Kashmiri Pandit team to visit Valley to negotiate for peace
Author: Press Trust Of India
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: May 16, 2000
Even as speculation about
talks between the Centre and Kashmiri separatists is rife, Kashmiri Pandit
migrants have decided to send a delegation to the valley to assess "ground
realities" for their return, asserting that the community's involvement
in any talks on Kashmir was "immensely essential" for these to be fruitful.
Assembling on a common
platform during a two-day annual general body meeting of the All India
Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) which ended here last evening, four prominent Kashmiri
Pandit organisations, AIKS, All India Kashmiri Pandit Conference, Panun
Kashmir and Kashmiri Samiti said the future strategy would be formulated
on the basis of the delegation's report.
The delegation, likely
to have nine representatives from various Kashmiri Pandit organisations,
would be sent to the valley in June, AIKS president J N Kaul told PTI,
adding exact details of the proposed programme would be worked out soon.
He said the delegation
would interact with "Muslim brethren" and visit various places to assess
"the ground realities in Kashmir, to see how we are acceptable there. The
future plan about the community would be formulated on the basis of the
team's report."
Stating that the more
than three lakh displaced Kashmiri Pandits were keen to return to their
homes, he said "But we have to be provided homes in a secure environment."
About the Centre's talks
offer to "a few people", Kaul regretted that the government had not made
its intentions clear about whether Kashmiri Pandits would be involved.
He added that no solution
could be acceptable to the community unless it was involved in any talks
on Kashmir "as we are the indigenous people of the valley." All India Kashmiri
Pandit Conferernce (AIKPC) president H N Jattu questioned how the government
could "ignore" Kashmiri Pandits when taking any decision regarding Kashmir.
He said various Kashmiri
Pandit groups were working on formulating a strategy keeping in view the
recent developments.
"No talks can be fruitful
without the participation of Kashmiri Pandits. We are the integral part
of the valley and hence our view has to be taken," asserted Kashmiri Samiti
president C L Gadoo.
He also opposed grant
of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir and favoured abolition of Article 370,
which grants special status to the state. "Jammu and Kashmir should be
integrated more strongly with the Union which can be done by abolishing
Article 370," Gadoo said.
Panun Kashmir convenor
Agni Shekhar said Kashmiri Pandits are the ethnic people of the valley
and "we expect to be involved in any talks."
He favoured geo-political
reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir by dividing it into four parts - Jammu,
Kashmir, Ladakh and a separate territory for Kashmiri Pandits within the
valley and having Union Territory status.
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