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Pandits complain of name deletion from voters list
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January 22, 2005 17:16 IST

Kashmiri Pandits on Saturday complained to Home Minister Shivraj Patil that names of people of the community have been deleted from electoral rolls ahead of the civic polls in the valley.

"The names of 2.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits have been erased from the electoral rolls on the pretext that they do not have records to prove that they belong to the valley," a delegation of Kashmiri Samiti, led by president Sunil Shakdher, told the home minister.

"How can we produce the relevant records when our houses were burnt without a trace during the insurgency?" Shakdher queried.

The delegation said the only solution to the plight of the community is the carving out of a centrally administered separate homeland in the valley with a Union Territory status.

Shakdher alleged that the community members were being 'humiliated by government officials on the pretext of verification'.

They are made to run from pillar to post to get the paltry relief amount, he said.

He demanded a uniform policy with regard to relief, trade and education throughout the country so that variations in the amounts given by various state governments as grants are corrected.

The Kashmiri Samiti, which submitted a memorandum to Patil, alleged that even after submitting a revised list of Hindu migrants from the valley, the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] government was not taking any steps to get them verified.

"As per the home ministry's instruction, we had prepared a list of those who were not yet registered as migrants. This list was then sent to the ministry and the J&K government for verification," it said.

"Even after receiving the list in June last year, no action has been taken by the state government," they said.

The leaders also criticised the remarks of a J&K Minister that all displaced Pandits would be rehabilitated in the valley by April this year.

"We have categorically stated that we are against the moves of the state government to house us in clusters," Shakdher said.

They ruled out the return of the displaced people to the valley under the prevailing conditions.

The 17-member delegation also requested the Home Minister to take steps to address the unemployment problem among the community members housed in relief camps.

 


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