Taking a step towards bringing back the Kashmiri Pandits who had migrated from the Valley after the militancy in 1990, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Friday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to identify a “suitable land” for their rehabilitation.
The NDA government has committed itself to the return of some 62,000 Kashmiri Pandit families with “full dignity” to their homes in the Valley and has earmarked Rs 500 crore for this in the 2014-15 Union Budget.
Singh wrote to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for allocation of “suitable” land for creating dwelling units for these families under the government’s plan to implement the rehabilitation scheme for the migrants.
Singh suggested the land may be identified near the places from where they migrated and also advised that this should be done in such a manner that there was adequate security in and around the area. At present, there are about 62,000 registered Kashmiri families who migrated from the Valley to either Jammu, Delhi or to other parts of the country after the onset of militancy in the border state.
Singh’s missive came ahead of the Assembly elections likely to be held in November-December this year for which the BJP. Political parties in Kashmir and even separatist groups have favoured return of the Pandits but are strongly opposed to the creation of separate colonies for them.