Jammu/New Delhi: Alliance partners PDP-BJP in Jammu and Kashmir today spoke in different voices on composite townships for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley with state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed saying no separate clusters will be built for the displaced community while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made it clear that there was no change in Centre’s view on it.
Under fire from over the reported move, Sayeed, in what is seen as a flip-flop, told the state Assembly that there will be “no separate clusters for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley (for their rehabilitation).
“I have told the Union Home Minister that they (KPs) cannot live separately (in the Valley) and they will have to live together,” Sayeed said after coming under attack from opposition National Conference, politicians from the Valley and separatist groups.
The statement of Sayeed comes two days after he held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
After the meeting, Home Ministry said in an official statement that the Chief Minister had assured that the state government will acquire and provide land for creating composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
This was termed by National Conference as a sinister design to divide the people of the state and separatists claimed that the RSS was taking a cue from Israel for creating a Gaza-type situation in the Valley.
In New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh made it clear that Centre was going ahead with its plans for composite townships for KPs.
“I don’t want to go into details. Whatever decision was taken by the central government for the rehabilitation of KPs …the decision remains the same.
We had a good talk with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (on this issue),” he told reporters.
Nearly 62,000 displaced KP families are in Jammu, Delhi and other parts of the country. They had migrated out of the Valley after militancy broke out in late 1989.
“Don’t worry, we are concerned about the security of Kashmiri Pandits and the people living there. We will prepare an action plan keeping in mind all these things,” Singh said on the sidelines of a CRPF function while reacting to Sayeed’s statement in the Assembly.
In the Assembly, Sayeed contended that separate homeland for KPs is not possible in Kashmir and rumours are being floated to create controversies in the state.
Asserting that it is government’s endeavour to create a conducive environment for the return of Kashmiri Pandits, he said if such controversies are created how can they come back.
“We do not want to do it in hurry. We will take all the stakeholders on board before taking a decision. We want flowering of secularism in Kashmir so that Kashmir becomes a garden of different varieties of flowers,” he said.
The CM also appealed to separatists that they should not play politics over the issue as it gives a bad name to Kashmir.
Asking KPs to return to the Valley, he said the state government will create a conducive environment to settle them at their places with “respect and dignity”.
“Those (KPs) who want to come back should not live in separation. There will be no Israel-type clusters and we welcome them to settle back in their places,” he said.
Sayeed was forced to give a reply on the issue after Congress Legislative Party leader Nawang Rigzin Jora raised the issue of townships for such migrants.
He alleged that the a land of 500 kanals had also been promised in the Valley for it. All the opposition members, including Congress, National Conference (NC), CPI(M) and Independent members Engineer Abdul Rashid and Hakeem Yaseen vehemently protested against the move.
Amid the din, CPI(M) member M Y Tarigami said, “Chief Minister is sitting here. Rumours are being spread to create controversy and disturb law and order over the issue of return of Kashmiri Pandits. It is a human issue. We all feel that they should come back to the Valley with respect and dignity but such steps (carving out separate townships) for them will create mistrust among the people in Kashmir”.
Sayeed termed the reports as misconceived and totally incorrect and maintained that his government has no plans to set up separate clusters for displaced pandits.
The Chief Minister denied that he had given any such assurance to the Centre.
NC member Ali Mohammad Sagar accused Sayeed of becoming a tool for BJP’s agenda on Jammu and Kashmir.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in the House with opposition members getting into heated arguments with BJP and PDP members.
Intervening the discussion, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basharat Bukhari said that Chief Minister has clarified his stand and now there is no need to make an issue and please allow the House to function.
The state government, after being criticised yesterday, had come out with a statement last night saying that the composite townships was meant for only those people of the community who have no land and properties left in Kashmir.
These people “can be accommodated in the composite township, if they desire so,” the spokesman had said. “The society and the Government is committed to facilitate reintegration of migrant pandits in their homeland with honour and dignity without compartmentalizing them as an isolated community,” the spokesman had said. (PTI)
