NEW DELHI: Six hundred eminent Kashmiri Pandits, including actor Anupam Kher, scientist Subhash Kak and musician Bhajan Sopori, have hailed the historic decision of the Modi government to revoke Article 370 and reorganise Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh into two Union territories.
"We, the displaced Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) of Kashmir living across the world hail the epoch-making decision of the Modi government to neuter Article 370 and reorganise Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories," they said in a joint statement.
The signatories included Kher, Kak, Sopori, and Mohan Kaul, ex-CEO, Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), among others.
"We, along with a vast majority of nationalistic Indians, always believed that Article 370 was the veritable foundation on which a bigoted Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir was allowed to flourish on the territory of secular India. We appreciate the extraordinary statesmanship and political will of the present government to dismantle the privileged edifice that sustained jihadist separatism in Kashmir," the statement said.
It said the patriotic Hindus of Kashmir scattered across the globe join 1.3 billion Indians in celebrating the release of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh from 70 years of bondage and its full integration with the Indian nation.
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"We, the global community of displaced Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) condemn a handful of discredited individuals, with questionable motives, seeking to unethically represent Kashmiri Hindus while casting aspersions on the GOI's historic decision. These individuals are nothing more than victim collaborators who have time and again sought to be complicit with perpetrators of our genocide," the statement said.
"We, the resilient displaced Hindus of Kashmir along with the rest of the conscientious Indians, once again hail the emancipating decisions of the Modi government to annul Article 370 and create two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh. We eagerly await to see the resolute implementation of the changes on the ground."