Srinagar: All Parties Hurriyat Conference senior leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has urged the Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homeland.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressing the Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar felicitated the Kashmiri Pandit community on the occasion of Mela Kheer Bhawani and said it is time to reconcile and rebuild the broken bonds and appealed to the Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homeland.
Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits paid obeisance at the Mata Kheer Bhawani temple at Tulmulla in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Friday.
Mela Kheer Bhawani — an annual event at the Kheer Bhawani temple dedicated to Rangya Devi — is also celebrated in other shrines and temples in Jammu and Kashmir to mark ‘Zyeth Atham’ or ‘Jyeshtha Ashtami’.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the community should return to their homeland which awaits them.
“Today is Mela Kheer Bhawani and I would like to felicitate our Kashmiri Pandit community on this occasion. I would also once again ask them to return to their homeland which awaits them and live here as they did in the past in our common and shared heritage. It is time to reconcile and rebuild the broken bonds. We owe it to our next generation,” he said.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also said dismissal of government employees from the service adds to “distress among people”. “Such measures only add to the mistrust and only deepen the chasm,” he maintained.
