Kashmiri Pandit groups meet Jitendra Singh over pilgrimage

Delegations of Kashmiri Pandit organisations today met Union Minister Jitendra Singh today seeking the Centre's intervention in allowing a pilgrimage to Kounsarnag Lak in South Kashmir, a day after locals had protested against the event.
Kashmiri Pandit community, including All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) and Kashmiri Samiti, accused Jammu and Kashmir government of cancelling the permission for the pilgrimage but the state administration claimed no such permission had been given.
The recent act of first granting permission for Kaunsarnag lake and later withdrawing it after protests from separatist groups like Hurriyat Conference "has hurt the sentiments of Hindus in general and Kashmiri Pandits in particular, APMCC claimed in statement after meeting Singh.

Singh, after meeting various delegations, said "it is our considered belief that there should be least amount of interference from government in the matter of faith. On the contrary, the government should rather try to facilitate such pilgrimages."
Regretting that a message had gone that the Yatra had been cancelled under pressure on extraneous considerations or pressures, Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, said he would be submitting the memorandum of Kashmiri Pandit groups to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and request him to take an appropriate view on it.
He appealed to the state government to review the decision and ensure that the issue does not lead to any kind of sectarian or social strife particularly in a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir.