Relief to Kashmiri Pandits only when they return to Valley: Altaf Bukhari

Kashmiri Pandits will be relieved only when they return to their homeland in the Valley, Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said on Saturday, asserting that attempts to widen the gap between them and the Muslims will fail.

His remarks come in the wake of a controversy over the recently released movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, which is based on the exodus of Kashmir Pandits from the Valley in 1990.

“If rehabilitation takes place by making a movie, I would have liked 50 more movies. I am not saying do not make movies. But what when such movies are made to help someone get votes?” Bukhari told reporters on the sidelines of a party function here.

“They (Kashmiri Pandits) will not get anything…my brothers are suffering for the last 32 years here (in Jammu) and they will get relief only when they return to their homes (in the Valley),” Bukhari said when asked for his reaction on the movie.

“Those who are making attempts to widen the gap between the communities will not succeed. We Kashmiris are one, whether a Muslim or a Pandit. It is (meant) to spread hatred against Kashmiri Muslims and we hope it does not lead to any violence,” the former minister said. Earlier, addressing a Jammu lawyers’ meet organised by the party here, he said the issues and aspirations of the people of both Jammu and Kashmir are common, and hence, the attempts to divide them will never succeed.