The Hindu : Pandits must be protected: Shabir Shah

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 01, 2003

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Pandits must be protected: Shabir Shah

By Our Staff Reporter

JAMMU MARCH 31. The Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party chief, Shabir Shah, today called for an inquiry by independent personalities of India and Pakistan into the massacres of innocents in the State.

Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Shah said, "there has to be end to the killing of innocents. This cannot go on. For this purpose I appeal for an independent inquiry." Referring to the Nadimarg incident he said, "there is now a fresh determination among Kashmiri Muslims to shed their blood to protect every Pandit family in the State. It is the duty of every Kashmiri leader proclaiming to fight for its cause to protect them."

Terming the killings an attack on the soul of Kashmir, he said, "it is an act of criminal minds. Such people have no place in a civilised society".

Turning to the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, he said, "the APHC's silence over the killing of the former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, Abdul Majid Dar, last week has raised several questions.

For me it is surprising that APHC has not come with a befitting response to the assassination of Dar as he was working for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue".

About the talks with N. N. Vohra, head of the Kashmir Committee, he said, "the meeting has to be for an agenda. When we met the Kashmir Committee we were made to believe that it has been given the mandate by the Central Government. But what has happened to that exercise? There has to be a concrete policy".

On the issue of the missing persons in the State, he said, "the real sincerity of the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Government will be in finding out the whereabouts of the thousands of missing persons in the State."

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Pandits must be protected: Shabir Shah