Centre plans 3-4 mixed townships for Kashmiri Pandits in Valley

NEW DELHI: The home ministry is planning three-four "composite townships" of 2,500 families each for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, including in Srinagar and Anantnag, where half of the proposed flats are expected to be reserved for the community while the rest may be up for sale for Kashmiri Muslims.

"The idea is not to ghettoise Pandits in a separate locality but to ensure that Muslims and Pandits live together in a secure environment," a senior official said, adding that there has been widespread misunderstanding regarding the matter owing to the mistaken claims that the exiled community of Pandits will be brought back to their native state only to be housed in separate townships.

Protests have rocked J& K since Home Minister Rajnath Singh on April 7 said he had asked CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to provide land for composite townships for Pandits. During the meeting between the two leaders in Delhi, Sayeed had assured Singh that J&K would acquire and provide land at the earliest for the purpose.

Separatists in the Valley slammed the move, claiming "creating ghettos" would complicate matters and urged the Pandits to return to their original homes. "Creation of separate colony for Pandits is a conspiracy to build walls of hatred between the two communities," separatist leader Yasin Malik had said. Pandit organisations also held protests against separatists, saying it wasn’t conducive for them to return to their homes.