Kashmiri Pandit staff not allowed to meet Home Minister

Jammu, August 25: Despite Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressing his willingness to meet everyone in Kashmir during his two-day visit to the Valley, a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits employees was not allowed to present their views, citing time constraints by officials.

Although despite tight schedule Rajnath met several delegations, the employees were not allowed to present real picture of the Valley. This has surprised them as the Central government has been talking of their rehabilitation and resettlement in Kashmir.

About 2,000 Pandit youth returned to the Kashmir valley in 2010 under Prime Minister employment package to start their life afresh in their homeland which their families were forcedto leave after the eruption of separatist insurgency in 1990.

However, a majority of them left the Valley and reached Jammu after rampaging mobs attacked their transit camps in Haal (Pulwama) and Vessu (Anantnag) following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

“We tried to meet the Union Home Minister but our request was turned down with the excuse that he had a busy schedule. We have also suffered during the two-month unrest and are part of the Valley. The government needs to hear our point also,” said Vimal Pandita, one of the delegation members.

Despite living in relative pace for the past six years, Pandit employees were subjected to concentrated attacks by protesters in the initial days of the unrest. This has totally shaken the community members who are working in different districts of the Valley from north Kashmir's Baramulla district to volatile districts of Anantnag and Pulwama.

“Truth should come out about what happened in the past two months but it seems deliberate efforts are being made to ignore the plight of minorities in Kashmir who are caught in the cross-fire. Even non-migrant Pandits are afraid of emerging situation inthe Valley,” said Rajesh Kumar, another PM package employee.

However, a senior BJP leader said the employees approached for the meeting on the second day of Rajnath's visit and it would have been difficult to accommodate them and meet the Home Minister. “We have told them to prepare a memorandum, listing their demands, so that it could be forwarded to the Centre,” said a BJP minister.

Displaced Pandits have been repeatedly accusing the PDP-BJP coalition government of hiding facts about the attacks on religious places of minority community and transit camps during the current unrest and have been demanding their adjustment outside Kashmir.