05-01-2008, 11:51 AM
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JAMMU, April 30: The displaced Kashmiri Pandit community has rejected the Rs. 1600 crore rehabilitation package announced for the rehabilitation of the ethnic minority by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his recent visit to Jammu last week.
<b>The âso-called packageâ announced by the Prime Minister for displaced Kashmiri Hindus does not address any of the real problems, short term or long term faced by Kashmiri Hindus, Panun Kashmir leaders have charged, alleging that it has trivialized the wholesale religious cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus and amounts to abdication of responsibility by the government to reverse the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.</b>
âThe UPA government has demonstrated its inaptitude and abject failure in comprehending the real challenges to the return of Kashmiri Hindus," Dr Agnishekhar and Dr Ajay Chrangoo told a press conference today, charging that the government has completely ignored their concerns and apprehensions.
"By reducing the issue of genocide to merely constructing a shelter in the Kashmir valley, the UPA Government has displayed lack of vision in confronting the larger challenge of jehadi terrorism," the leaders said.
If having a house in Kashmir was the only problem for Kashmiri Hindus then none of them would have left the state in 1990, Dr Agnisekhar said.
Major components of the Prime Minister's package include provision of housing and job facilities and waiver of interest on loans to displaced Kashmiri Pandits, with each migrant family that opts to return to the valley promised a lump sum of Rs 7,50, 000 to build or buy homes.
Dr Agnisekhar said the permanent return of Kashmiri Hindus to the valley can be ensured only by tackling all dimensions of terrorism, de-communalisation of the social milieu in the valley and creating a viable political and economic dispensation for the displaced community.
The Pandit leaders said the Centre should have addressed the issues of forcible grabbing of property belonging to Pandits and shrines, compensation and release of rental arrears of houses occupied by security forces, waiver of loans and income tax for traders besides a comprehensive employment package.
<b>âGimmicks like announcing funds for housing societies in the Valley for Kashmiri Hindus, knowing well that no one accepted them during past two decades, will only complicate the issues,â said the leaders. </b>
They also regretted the failure of the government to consider the primary demand of the community for setting up a commission of inquiry into the core issue of Hindu exodus and religious cleansing and fixing responsibility for it.
The leaders further said the way the package was declared in Akhnoor, it has caused bad feelings against Kashmiri Hindus. Wittingly or unwittingly, the announcement tried to pit the interests of displaced Kashmiri Hindus against aggrieved and devastated border migrants, PoK refugees or internally displaced Hindus of Jammu, they said. n sns
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JAMMU, April 30: The displaced Kashmiri Pandit community has rejected the Rs. 1600 crore rehabilitation package announced for the rehabilitation of the ethnic minority by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his recent visit to Jammu last week.
<b>The âso-called packageâ announced by the Prime Minister for displaced Kashmiri Hindus does not address any of the real problems, short term or long term faced by Kashmiri Hindus, Panun Kashmir leaders have charged, alleging that it has trivialized the wholesale religious cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus and amounts to abdication of responsibility by the government to reverse the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.</b>
âThe UPA government has demonstrated its inaptitude and abject failure in comprehending the real challenges to the return of Kashmiri Hindus," Dr Agnishekhar and Dr Ajay Chrangoo told a press conference today, charging that the government has completely ignored their concerns and apprehensions.
"By reducing the issue of genocide to merely constructing a shelter in the Kashmir valley, the UPA Government has displayed lack of vision in confronting the larger challenge of jehadi terrorism," the leaders said.
If having a house in Kashmir was the only problem for Kashmiri Hindus then none of them would have left the state in 1990, Dr Agnisekhar said.
Major components of the Prime Minister's package include provision of housing and job facilities and waiver of interest on loans to displaced Kashmiri Pandits, with each migrant family that opts to return to the valley promised a lump sum of Rs 7,50, 000 to build or buy homes.
Dr Agnisekhar said the permanent return of Kashmiri Hindus to the valley can be ensured only by tackling all dimensions of terrorism, de-communalisation of the social milieu in the valley and creating a viable political and economic dispensation for the displaced community.
The Pandit leaders said the Centre should have addressed the issues of forcible grabbing of property belonging to Pandits and shrines, compensation and release of rental arrears of houses occupied by security forces, waiver of loans and income tax for traders besides a comprehensive employment package.
<b>âGimmicks like announcing funds for housing societies in the Valley for Kashmiri Hindus, knowing well that no one accepted them during past two decades, will only complicate the issues,â said the leaders. </b>
They also regretted the failure of the government to consider the primary demand of the community for setting up a commission of inquiry into the core issue of Hindu exodus and religious cleansing and fixing responsibility for it.
The leaders further said the way the package was declared in Akhnoor, it has caused bad feelings against Kashmiri Hindus. Wittingly or unwittingly, the announcement tried to pit the interests of displaced Kashmiri Hindus against aggrieved and devastated border migrants, PoK refugees or internally displaced Hindus of Jammu, they said. n sns
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