Centre's J&K envoy visits Pandit camps in Jammu

Jammu: The Centre's special envoy on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, on Friday visited Jagti area here, the largest township of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, and met people to understand their problems.

He visited several households in the area where people apprised him of their problems, officials said.

Sharma, who visited Srinagar and Jammu earlier this month, will be in the state for the next four days.

The officials said that Sharma would also meet people who came from West Pakistan immediately after Partition in 1947 and settled in Jammu. There are nearly three lakh such people.

Besides, he will visit camps housing those displaced from their homes in border villages to understand their plight and ensure that they are properly rehabilitated.

Sharma, a former Intelligence Bureau chief, was appointed the Centre's interlocutor on October 23 to hold talks with all stakeholders in an effort to find lasting peace in parts of Kashmir.

Around 60,000 Kashmiri Pandit families migrated in 1990 after the onset of militancy. Of these, 39,000 families based themselves in various camps in Jammu.

Sharma will also visit the "ground zero" of unrest in south Kashmir's Pulwama and Anantnag districts, they said.

The high point of his visit will be his interactions with youths and students in Pulwama and Anantnag, the officials added. These districts were the epicentre of unrest following the encounter killing of Hizbul Mujahideen's poster boy Burhan Wani on July 8 last year. Pulwama also earned the notorious distinction of being the nerve centre of militancy with anti-insurgency operations being launched on a war footing in the area.

After his first visit to Kashmir Valley, Sharma suggested that cases against 4,500 youths involved in stone pelting for the first time be dropped in a bid to win hearts. Attempts are being made to ensure round-the-clock electricity supply by the beginning of winter next year, the officials said.

Jammu: The Union government has no plan to set up composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, according to an RTI reply. The Union home ministry's reply came in response to a query on the matter by social worker Rohit Choudhary.

Ram Krishna Swarnakar, director in the home ministry, said, "This ministry doesn't have any plan to set up composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandit migrants."

On the measures taken for the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Swarnakar said: "It is advised to you to seek the information directly from the state government of J&K".

Kashmiri Pandits have been demanding the setting up of the townships for their rehabilitation in the Valley.

The RTI reply has come to light on a day the Centre's special representative Dineshwar Sharma was to visit Jammu and Kashmir for his second trip to the state. Sharma is expected to visit migrant camps in Jammu and in the Valley, and listen to their problems.

He met Kashmiri Pandit representatives during his first visit to Kashmir earlier this month and discussed roadmap for their return and rehabilitation. The Pandits had demanded the setting up of a Welfare Board for the community.

Sharma was appointed the Centre's interlocutor on October 23 to hold talks with all stakeholders in an effort to find a lasting peace in the Valley.