Overview
- Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the Assembly on Wednesday that displaced Kashmiri Pandits can return only after a credible sense of safety is restored.
- He said the government will guard their properties and Hindu temples until conditions allow a safe and dignified homecoming, decades after many fled in the early 1990s.
- He called for broad agreement within the Pandit community before drafting any new law on shrines or properties to avoid fresh rifts.
- National Conference legislator Arjun Singh Raju withdrew his private member’s bill on shrine management after the chief minister’s reply in the House.
- The Peoples Democratic Party said it has filed a separate bill on the reintegration of Kashmiri Pandits, which has not yet come up for debate.