Less than three weeks after they were denied permission to undertake the historical Kousar Nag yatra, a group of Kashmiri Pandits on Tuesday reapplied for permission to undertake the pilgrimage through south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
This comes four days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blamed the district administration for withdrawing permission to a Kashmiri Pandit organisation to start the yatra. The All Parties Migrants Co-ordination Committee (APMCC) has now pressed a fresh application to the Deputy Commissioner, Kulgam, asking him to provide foolproof security to a group of 20 persons from Kulgam to Kousar Nag from September 15 to 17.
A copy of the application has also been sent to Mr. Abdullah.
“Since the Chief Minister has accepted during his Independence Day speech that the situation was not handled properly and that the State government was not averse to a few Kashmiri Pandits visiting the holy site, we are reapplying for permission,” said Vinod Pandit, APMCC chairman. The State government had denied permission to APMCC on July 31 to undertake the yatra after it buckled under pressure from Kashmiri separatist groups.
