KL Report
SRINAGAR
A day after union home minister Rajnath Singh made a statement over the townships for pandits in valley; state government on Wednesday said the question is not about the quantity of land but the idea to settle pundits and Mulsims together in mixed habitations.
“It is not the question of 400 or 500 kanals of land. It is an idea of creating a shared space wherein Muslims, Pandits, Sikhs and any permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir who is interested in staying here can live,” Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told KNS.
He added that any space that is created would not be exclusive and can be open Muslims and persons from other religions. “We will welcome migrant pandits who had to leave during the most unfortunate circumstances. We will reintegrate them in the mixed colonies where everybody can live. The idea is to facilitate the return of pundits to Kashmir.”
Akhtar said mixed population habitations are a reversal of the idea that had been pressed by some quarters for long to have exclusive enclaves for returning migrants in the valley. “Infact, such a experiment had been made in the past to create habitations exclusively for migrants but had failed to re-create the traditional ethos of Kashmir.”
