Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, as the abrogation of Article 370 by the fascist Modi government in India is about to complete a whole year, Kashmiri Pandits on Monday demanded the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Satish Mahaldar who heads an organization of Kashmiri Pandits, in a statement in Srinagar said, “We demand immediate restoration of the statehood and special status to Jammu and Kashmir. …Never before a state has been downgraded. This is not done in a democracy. One can’t have a military solution to a political situation and can’t go to war with own people.”
Mahaldar, Chairman of Reconciliation, Return and Rehabilitations of Migrants, had led a delegation of Pandits to the Valley, twice last year and met Hurriyat leaders and civil society members.
Ahead of the completion of one year of the abrogation of Article 370, a body of displaced Kashmiri Pandits on Monday demanded the restoration of J&K’s special status and statehood.
Mahaldar had led a delegation of Pandits to the Valley twice last year and stated that 419 displaced families were ready to return to Kashmir. Besides meeting the Hurriyat and civil society, the delegation had also turned up at the Mela Kheer Bhawani in the form of a yatra in June 2019 to give a positive message.
He pointed out other states too enjoyed special status for the protection of their cultural and economic interests.
Other Kashmir Pandit groups, too, have made clear their displeasure over the revocation of the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, last year.
“Our condition has gone from bad to worse after J&K was made a UT. We are feeling neglected and our demands, especially those related to rehabilitation and unemployment issues of youth, remain unaddressed,” said Chunni Lal Butt, president of the Hindu Welfare Society Kashmir (HWSK) — a body representing non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits that stayed back in the Valley.—KMS
