KPSG chairman Ashok Bhan calls for dialogue with stakeholders

New Delhi, Jan 23: Ashok Bhan, the chairman of the Kashmir Policy and Strategy Group (KPSG) Tuesday said that a dialogue with the stakeholders will help in giving a closure to native Kashmiri community living in exile for the last thirty four years.
He was speaking at a civil society meeting at India International Centre, in which former governors, academicians, civil servants and strategic community members participated.
“A dialogue with the stakeholders and an intra community dialogue will help in giving a closure to the sordid and brutal phase of societal devastation, death and destruction that has engulfed the larger south Asian region in general and Jammu & Kashmir in particular,” he said.
He said KPSG has always urged the union government to engage with Kashmiri Pandits.
He reminded that PM Modi has promised the repatriation of displaced community back in the valley. He said after Lord Ram’s Gharvapsi to Ayodhya, PM is morally & constitutionally obliged to plan secured and empowered Ghar Wapsi for the 7 lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits back to Valley.
“The Kashmir Valley carries a historical burden in a social context. The people are carrying the burden as victims of conflict from 1947 and continuing consequences of armed insurgency resulting in exile of the religious minority and killings innocent civilians in the violence perpetrated by non-state actors,” Bhan said
He said time has come to give legitimate rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the prolonged governor rule. “The elections to the legislature can be held along with the ensuing parliamentary elections. The honourable Supreme Court has also commanded the elections to be held not later than September 2024.”
Bhan said that a “Truth & Reconciliation Commission” should be set up expeditiously. “The Commission will investigate and report on the human rights violations by non-state and state actors perpetrated in Jammu & Kashmir and recommend measures for reconciliation.”