Fear looms, ‘very few’ Kashmiri Pandits willing to return: Karan Singh

New Delhi, September 8

Veteran politician Karan Singh is learnt to have said that there exists a constant sense of fear among Kashmiri Pandits and this is why very few are willing to return to their homeland in the Kashmir Valley.

He was speaking at the release of a book by known cardiologist Dr Upendra Kaul. Singh said most of the Kashmiri Pandits who could afford to go out have gone and “settled for good” – be it abroad or different parts of the country. But he said Kashmir would always remain “incomplete” without Kashmiri Pandits.

“Kashmir is beautiful and beguiling and the tragedy that has taken over the Valley since 1947 is heartbreaking,” Singh, whose father Maharaja Hari Singh was the last Dogra ruler of Kashmir, said.

He commended Dr Kaul and other Kashmiri Pandits like him who have returned and built their homes in the Valley but added that “such examples are very rare”.

Kashmir has witnessed a string of fatal attacks on members of the minority community this year in which Rahul Bhat, a government employee recruited under the Prime Minister’s special package for Kashmiri Pandits, and teacher Rajini Bala, were killed.