Jammu, June 24: Stating that an environment of development and communal harmony was being created in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Gen (Retd.) S K Sinha expressed the hope that Kashmiri Pandits would return to the Valley with honour and dignity. "An environment of development and communal harmony has been created in the state. There is every hope that Kashmiri migrants will return to Kashmir in an old environment of brotherhood," he told Kashmiri Pandits yesterday during a visit to migrant camps in Jammu district.
He cited the successful culmination of Kheer Bhawani Festival in Srinagar where a large number of Pandits and Muslims participated, as an example of Hindu-Muslim unity and restoration and normalisation of the situation. Sinha said anti-national and fundamentalist elements were exploiting innocent youth in the name of jehad.
He told the migrants that the government was aware of their problems and the entire nation was behind them in the hour of crisis. He assured that the Centre would be urged to provide preference in employment to Kashmiri youth in and outside the state. The migrants demanded an employment package, benefits of healing touch policy to Pandits, permanent rehabilitation and enhancement of relief and medical facilities. Bureau Report