Resistance to Kashmiri Pandits return to J&K violation of democracy: Jitendra Singh
Voicing concern over the ongoing controversy on the issue of the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said any resistance to their return is a violation of the spirit of democracy and constitution.
“Any resistance to their return on any account is a violation of the spirit of democracy and also violation of the constitution, under the oath of which the people’s elected representatives function,” Union Minister of State, PMO, Jitendra Singh said.
Singh said “not only this is a constitutional right of every Kashmiri Pandit to return to his place of origin, but it is also the responsibility of the entire society to ensure their return with dignity and safety”.
He said the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community deserves sympathetic, human approach and cautioned against any temptation to seek political mileage out of the issue.
Taking a dig at the mainstream political parties and their leaders over the issue, Singh said “it is an irony that a controversy is sought to be created by some of those who always quoted former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ‘Insaniyat Ke Daire Mein’ reference to Kashmir, but refuse to view the issue of Kashmiri Pandits within the same ideology.
Singh said, he is particularly hurt to hear the opinion in certain quarters that the Kashmiri Pandits do not wish to return to their homes and that they left the Valley voluntarily by their own will.
History bears out, he said, that however much of comfort is provided to a person living as a refugee in a state of homelessness, the person would still always yearn for return to his home and hearth.
The Union Minister said, those who threaten to protest against the plans for the return of Kashmiri Pandits or tend to lay down conditions for their return, should bear in mind that the same constitutional frame which enables them to express themselves against the cause of Kashmiri Pandits, is also available to the members of the Kashmiri Pandit community to protest in support of their own cause.
“The issue, therefore, can be resolved only through a sane realisation that Kashmiri Pandits are an essential component of Kashmir’s traditional culture, and the lost glory of the Valley cannot be restored without the return of Kashmiri Pandits,” he added.
Singh also called for an equally sensitive approach in handling the cause of the other groups of refuges in Jammu and Kashmir, who include the refugees from Pak-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and those from erstwhile West Pakistan who are yet to receive their citizenship rights.
PTI
