PDP distances itself from party leader's views on Rohingyas

Ruling PDP today distanced itself from the views of a party leader from Jammu who has advocated immediate deportation of Rohingyas, saying it is not the stand of the party which is with the immigrants and favours a humane handling of the issue.
Senior PDP leader and Minister for Education Syed Altaf Bukhari told reporters here that there should be no politics over the issue.
"See, as far as the statement from our MLC (Member of Legislative Council) which has come from Jammu is concerned, which I also read, could be his personal view and that is not the party line," Bukhari said.

He was referring to the statement of MLC and party leader Vikramaditya Singh, who yesterday expressed concern over the "delay" in deporting Rohingyas illegally living in Jammu
Singh had said his consistent stand on immediate deportation of illegal Rohingya Burmese refugees stands vindicated after the written submission of the Centre in the Supreme Court.
"Our (PDP) stand is that this is a human issue and should be dealt humanely. We don't want to do any politics over it," Bukhari said when asked to comment on the remarks of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav yesterday.

Madhav had said Rohingyas pose a security threat to the country and rejected the view that they should be allowed to stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Bukhari said none other than Kashmiris know how to stand for those who have been forced out of their homes.
"We Kashmiris, be it Kashmiri Muslims or Pandits, have shown we stand for each other and no one other than us holds that much of sympathy for those (Rohingyas)," the J&K minister said.
He said the people of Kashmir stand for all the people who have been forced to leave their homes.
"We stand for Rohingya Muslims. It is a human issue and we treat it as a human issue," he said.