APMCC chairman on hunger strike for Kashmiri Hindu`s demands

Ahmedabad: All Parties Migrants Co-ordination Committee (APMCC) chairman Vinod Pandit`s indefinite hunger strike at Porbandar in Gujarat for various demands concerning Kashmiri Hindus entered the second day on Thursday. Pandit began his agitation at the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi yesterday for six demands of Kashmiri Hindus, that included dialogue with Pakistan for facilitating visit to Shardha Peeth Temple in the occupied Kashmir.

The APMCC chairman started the hunger strike after the Jammu and Kashmir government and Union government reportedly failed to meet their six-point charter of demands. Pandit launched his fast after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his birth place Kirti Mandir in presence of his associates, national spokesperson of APMCC King Bharati said. "This is the second day of my fast and nobody from the state or central government has come to ask me anything. Even doctors have not come to check my health," Pandit told PTI on phone from Porbandar, 412 km from here. When asked why he decided to sit on a indefinite hunger strike in Porbandar, Pandit said, "Porbandar is the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. And, no better inspiration than him." Bharati said the response from all communities, including minorities, was a clear indication that their demands were genuine and nobody was against it. "One wonders what was preventing the central and state governments from taking up the issues of Kashmiri Hindus," he said. Bharati said APMCC has conveyed its demands to government through various memoranda, press conferences, and other sources and it was up to the central and state governments to respond. "The strike would continue till the government does not wake up from its deep slumber", he said. PTI