SRINAGAR: With J&K legislature passing resolutions calling for return of Kashmiri Pandits to Valley, hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani on Friday said they will welcome the return of displaced Pandits to Valley but settling them in separate colonies is “unacceptable”.
“We will welcome return of Kashmiri Pandits to valley,” said Geelani, who alongwith separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik spearheaded over five month long unrest in the Valley after killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 last year.
He termed the resolution adopted by J&K Legislative assembly yesterday for return of Pandits as a “political gimmick”.
“Any separate colony for their (Pandits) settlement in Valley is unacceptable,” the hardline separatist leader said.
“We won’t allow such colonies and will oppose it,” Geelani said.
J&K Legislative Assembly had yesterday passed a resolution calling for safe return of Kashmiri Pandits and displaced members of other communities to Valley.
After eruption of militancy, the Pandits had migrated enmasse from the Valley and are living in Jammu and other parts of the country.
The J&K Legislative Council today also passed a resolution calling for safe return of Pandits to Kashmir.
Geelani said resolution passed by administration is incomplete until and unless 15 lakh Kashmiris, who were forced to migrate from valley in 1947, 1965 and 1971, are called back to Kashmir.
Referring to Pandits, the hardline separatist leader said they are part of Kashmir society.
“We have always urged them to return and we will welcome them if they are willing to settle within us and in our society,” he said.
However, Geelani warned that they will resent the decision about settling the migrant Pandits in separatist townships in Valley. “It will be opposed by one and all”.
Meanwhile, J&K government spokesman and Education Minister said in Legislative Council in Jammu today that the State government will go ahead with setting up of transit camps with all facilities for migrant Pandits in Valley.
Earlier on January 17, J&K Minister for Revenue and Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Ahmed Bukhari, had informed Legislative Assembly that Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had approved the construction of 6,000 transit accommodation units in Kashmir for return of the migrant Pandits to Valley.
He had said the new accommodations will come up at Vesu and Hall in South Kashmir and Shiekhpora in central Kashmir.