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Kashmiri pandits to reiterate demand for separate homeland

Kathak danseuse Kumkum Dhar, santoor maestro Pandit Bhajan Sopori and film personalities Shatrughan Sinha, Mahesh Bhatt and Anupam Kher are among the 3,000 delegates who will attend the second World Conference of Kashmiri Pandits which begins in New Delhi's Siri Fort auditorium on January 30.

The two-day conference, organised by the Panun Kashmir group, will discuss the community's future strategy and its response to the current political situation in the country.

Panun Kashmir convenor Dr Agnishekhar said the 300,000-strong Pandit community living in various parts of the country would reiterate its demand for a separate homeland with Union territory status. It would back any political party in the election which supported this demand.

He appealed to President K R Narayanan to nominate a representative of Kashmiri Pandits to Parliament. That would enable them to voice their grievances in the House.

The conference will have different sessions dedicated to the social, cultural, and political aspects of the 'Kashmiri Pandits struggle in exile'. It would issue an appeal to all national political parties 'to transcend the politics of numbers and try to alleviate the sufferings of a minority community'.

The conference will also witness the unveiling and invocation of a life-size portrait of goddess Sharada, the presiding deity of the Kashmiri Pandits.

UNI

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