Shabbir Shah, Others Hail Gilani’s Invitation To Pandits

24 February 2008
Kashmir Media Service

Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Shabbir Ahmed Shah and other politicians has hailed the invitation of senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani to Kashmiri Pandits urging them to come back to the occupied valley without wasting any time. In a statement in Srinagar, Shabbir Shah said that all the people who had migrated from valley since 1947 should return to their ancestral abode and live a normal life. Shah added that APHC was ready to pave way for facilitating the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the held valley. Senior advocate Pandit Bushan Lal said that Syed Ali Gilani was a farsighted and honest politician, who had always felt the pain and sufferings of Pandit community. Bushan Lal added that no financial package would attract Kashmiri Pandits to return and it could only be possible with the support of their Muslim brethren. Senior leader of National Conference Abdur Rahim Rather also welcomed Gilani’s call. He accused former Governor of occupied Kashmir Jaghmohan of orchestrating the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the occupied valley in early nineties. Indian Communist Party Secretary M Y Tarigami while welcoming Gilani’s invitation to Kashmiri Pandits said, “Displacement of Pandits from valley was a tragic event and expressed the hope that the community would now return without wasting any more time.”