Scores of Kashmiri Pandit migrants, who have assembled here for the annual Kheerbhawani fair, said today that successive governments at the Centre as well as in the state had failed to rehabilitate them in the valley and only used their cause for political gains.
A group of Kashmiri Pandits appealed to Muslim brethren to lead the way for their return to the valley.
"For the last 28 years, the governments in the state as well as at the Centre have only assured us of our return and rehabilitation, but have done nothing. They have failed to do so, Satish Mahaldar, a Kashmiri Pandit, said here.
Mahaldar said the community had only been used as a political slogan.
We have nothing to do with politics. But, till today, Kashmiri Pandits have been used only as a political slogan. Someone pulls us in one direction and the other in different direction for their benefits, he said.
He said while Kashmiri Pandits were destroyed after leaving the valley, the Muslim population also suffered.
If Kashmiri Pandits have been destroyed, Kashmiri Muslims have seen worse. Our Kashmiriyat has been destroyed and there have been attacks on it regularly, he said.
Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits prayed at the famous temple of Ragnya Devi here in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district as the annual Kheerbhawani Mela was celebrated today amidst chanting of religious hymns and sound of temple bells.
The fair -- a symbol of Hindu-Muslim amity -- passed off peacefully as the government had made elaborate security arrangements for the devotees who throng the temple from many states of the country.
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