Srinagar, November 3
The return of Kashmiri Pandits will be the “top priority” of Jammu and Kashmir Government.

Replying to questions after the cabinet meeting in civil secretariat here this morning, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said that his government would have a specific agenda for the return of Kashmiri Pandits, who have been a part and parcel of the valley. He said that Kashmir was incomplete without the Pandits.

The Mufti said that incentives would be announced for those Pandits willing to return to Kashmir. It has to be a gradual process and there was need to create an atmosphere for the return of over two lakh Pandits who migrated with the eruption of militancy in 1989-90. The Mufti said measures would be taken to facilitate the return of the Pandits in a phased manner.

Mr Sayeed said there was need to give a healing touch to the people who had suffered a lot during the past 13 years of militancy. He said improvement in the situation was a gradual process that would be made possible through a responsive multi-party coalition government in the state.

The Chief Minister said the cases registered under POTA would be reviewed. Referring to the role of the Special Task Force (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police, Mr Sayeed said the police would have to make a change in its approach while dealing with militancy in the state.

He made it clear that dialogue was the only way to restore peace in the region and asserted that his government would help in an unconditional dialogue between the Centre and militants in the state. He pointed out that dialogue was necessary to resolve all issues, adding that the Centre would also hold talks with elected representatives of the state. Mr Sayeed has sought the Centre’s support to his government and urged it to “walk an extra mile to consolidate the gains made by the successful completion of the recent elections” in the state.

“We do earnestly hope that the assurances made by the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister to extend full support to our government shall be honoured in letter and spirit in the national interest,” Mufti Sayeed stated. Mufti Sayeed said he had conveyed to the Prime Minister recently in New Delhi that fairest possible elections were held and that now there was a need to remove the alienation among the people of the state.

Mufti Sayeed, accompanied by his senior Cabinet colleagues Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, announced that the coalition government today adopted the common minimum programme “as a road map and guiding principle for the governance in the state”. He said his government’s endeavour would be to make the coalition government more broad-based by co-opting the other groups of MLAs, who had extended their unconditional support and “whose cooperation and services could be utilised in the larger interests of the state by providing a stable and truly representative government”.

Replying to questions the Chief Minister made it clear that the common minimum programme was not only meant for Kashmir but equally for all three regions of the state.