64,827 Pandits left Kashmir in ’90s due to militancy: MHA

SRINAGAR — Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday said that 64,827 Kashmiri Pandit families left Kashmir in the early 90s due to militancy and settled in Jammu, Delhi and other parts of India.

According to the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for 2020-21, a copy of which is with the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), due to the onset of militancy in the early 1990s, 64,827 Kashmiri Pandit families along with some Sikh and Muslim families migrated from Kashmir Valley to Jammu, Delhi and other parts of the country. “Similarly, nearly 1,054 families from the hilly areas of Jammu migrated Jammu plains,” the report said.

It added, “As per the records of registration available with the Relief and Rehabilitation available with the Migrant Commissioner, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, at present 43,618 registered Kashmiri migrant families are settled in Jammu, 19,338 families are settled in Delhi/NCR and 1,995 families in a few other States/UTs in the country.”

The report further said that with a view to resettling Kashmiri Migrants in the valley, the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved 3,000 jobs with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir under PMRP-2008 and additional 3,000 jobs with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir under PMDP-2015.”

“In order to provide accommodation to these 6,000 Kashmiri Migrant employees in the valley, construction of 6,000 Transit Accommodations at an outlay of 920 crores has also been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Under the scheme, 1,025 dwelling units have been completed/substantially completed and 1488 flats are under construction,” the report said.

It added, “Under PMDP-2015, financial assistance of 75.50 lakh is also being disbursed to the 36,384 displaced families from PaJK, Chhamb and Niabat settled in Jammu and Kashmir. The Government of India has further approved similar financial assistance for the inclusion of those Displaced Persons (DP) families, out of 5,300 DP families of PaJK 1947, who initially opted to move outside the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir but later on returned and settled in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 1371.13 crores has been disbursed to 31,670 beneficiaries till 31st December 2020.”

The report said that financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family has also been approved by the Government of India with an outlay of Rs 317.02 crores for 5,764 families of West Pakistan Refugees (WPRS) who migrated from several areas of West Pakistan in the aftermath of the partition of 1947 and settled in different parts of the Jammu region.