Religious scholars from Valley to meet Kashmiri Pandits

Chairman of moderate Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today said a team of influential religious scholars will go to Jammu next week to meet Kashmiri Pandits in an effort to bring them back to their native places in the Valley.
Scholars from 'Mutheida-Majlis-e-Ulema', a religious body headed by Farooq, will leave for Jammu on Monday.
"A team of ulemas from Mutheida-Majlis-e-Ulema will be leaving for Jammu on Monday to meet their Pandit brothers to understand their concerns and needs and to convince them to return to their homes," the Mirwaiz said addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here.
Last month, the Majlis described the return of migrant Pandits a "humanitarian issue" and said they are ready to talk to the community members who genuinely want to return to facilitate their homecoming while outrightly rejecting the idea of separate townships for them.

The Mirwaiz said Kashmiri Pandits have every right to return as being the part of Kashmir's age-old composite culture.
He asked PDP to come clean on its policy with regard to separate townships, in view of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's recent statement that the state government has promised 50 acres of land as first instalment for the rehabilitation of Pandits in the Valley.
Mirwaiz said "PDP should stop its game of running with the hare and hunting with the hound."
"The idea of a separate townships for Pandits is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir who believe that Pandits are an integral part of the Valley and hence want their assimilation and integration in our social, cultural and economic milieu," he said.