ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Efforts on for safe return of Pandits to Kashmir

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

After a long delay the National Conference government has initiated steps for the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits who migrated to Jammu and other places in 1990 following the eruption of insurgency in the state.

As a first step towards their return to the Kashmir Valley the state government has identified 170 clusters in the vicinity of their original residences. "If all goes well the first batch of over 8,000 Pandits will be back in their homes by April," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P L Handoo told rediff.com.

He said, "We will first bring back those migrants whose houses are safe in various districts of the Valley. The return of the migrants and the repair of their homes will be simultaneous as we don't want to waste time. It is their land and property and they will return." The clusters have been identified after taking into consideration the security and other related matters. Each cluster, Handoo said, "would comprise at least five houses which can be made habitable by carrying out simple repairs."

Handoo said that all the deputy commissioners in Kashmir have been directed to furnish details about the damage to migrant property so that necessary relief for the reconstruction of their homes is undertaken. But he added, "For this we need massive Central aid." He said more clusters will be identified after the migrants begin returning to Kashmir. "We are hopeful that the Pandits will co-operate with us in their honourable and safe return to the Valley," he quipped.

He added, "We will soon be holding consultations with the migrant families in Jammu and other places." Early this year the state government arranged visits by 33 Pandit delegations to various parts of the Valley. During these visits the Pandits met their old neighbours and members of the majority community and as one official here said, "The visits proved very fruitful."

The law minister during his meeting with top state officials directed them to create a conducive atmosphere so that more and more clusters are created in all the districts for the safe return of more migrants to Kashmir.

The state government has also simultaneously begun a massive exercise for identifying the number of government employees who had migrated so that measures for their rehabilitation are formulated. Handoo added, "We will liberalise the criteria for the formation of clusters so that more and more Pandits willing to return are accommodated." He said, "Their safe return is amongst the top priorities of our government."

Tell us what you think of this report