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Shah urges Pandits to help keep J&K united

Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah held a meeting with representatives of the Kashmiri Pandits for the first time on Saturday night and sought their co-operation to fight the perpetrators of violence and terrorism and the forces that seek to divide the state on the basis of religion.

Shah, who is president of the Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, said the move to divide the state on communal lines would have serious repercussions and damage its secular ethos.

Prominent Pandits, including H M Jatoo of the Kashmiri Pandit Conference, D N Munshi of the Kashmiri Samaj, noted journalist P N Jalali and representatives of Panun Kashmir and Kashmiri Samiti were present at the meeting.

The JKDFP leader told them that Jammu & Kashmir should remain one and it was the duty of all peace-loving people to protect it.

He demanded elections in the state under the supervision of non-governmental organisations and intellectuals to bring to the fore the "genuine representatives" of the people.

He also urged the Indian government to respond to Pakistani gestures and initiate the peace process in the valley.

Shah accused the government of not being serious about the return of the Pandits to the valley, saying they had become a "museum piece" for politicians.

"The government will not take the Kashmiri Pandits back. They [the government] have made the Pandits a museum piece so that they are able to show any foreign dignitary visiting the valley that look what has happened to our people by militancy," he remarked.

Shah also held with talks with senior journalist R K Mishra, who is involved in track II diplomacy.

UNI

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