NO separate townships for Kashmiri Pandits: Mufti's U-turn
April 09, 2015  10:41
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Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has had a rethink on the ghettos for Kashmiri Pandits. Announcing his decision in the J-K Assembly today, Sayeed said, "There would be NO separate clusters for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. I have told the Union Home Minister that Kashmiri Pandits cannot live separately in the Valley and they will have to live together in the society."

Sayeed was in Delhi on Tuesday where he was told by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, that he should provide land for the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Singh had written a letter to the previous Omar Abdullah government which was followed by another communication to state Governor N N Vohra asking for identification of land for such migrants.

The BJP-PDP coalition in the state has mentioned rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in their Common Minimum Programme.

At present, there are about 62,000 registered Kashmiri migrant families in the country.

Facing flak from opposition parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government made a U-turn on the controversial plans for composite townships in the valley, saying they are "part and parcel of the Kashmiri fabric of life" and would be settled at their native places and "not as an isolated community".

The Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government had on Tuesday assured the Centre that it will soon acquire and provide land at the earliest for creating "composite townships" for displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the valley.

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