Srinagar, 3 June (H.S.): National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday hoped that Kashmiri Pandits would return to the Valley as their presence at the Mela Kheer Bhawani in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack was “a befitting reply” to its perpetrators.

“This (presence of devotees at the mela) is a huge thing. This is Mata’s (temple deity) doing. She has called them here, to their homes,” Abdullah told reporters here after visiting the temple shrine during the annual mela here in Ganderbal district.

Abdullah urged people to shed any fear over the terror attack and the four-day military conflict that followed and visit Jammu and Kashmir in huge numbers.

“In Jammu as well, people are scared due to the fight. They are not coming to Mata Vaishno Devi. I want to tell the people to leave fear and come and have Mata’s darshan,” he said.

Abdullah, a former chief minister of J-K, also expressed hope that a large number of pilgrims would come for the annual Amarnath yatra scheduled to begin on July 3.

“We hope that people will come in large numbers for Bholenath’s darshan,” he added.

The NC president welcomed the presence of devotees in huge numbers at the Mela Kheer Bhawani.

“Fear among people is beginning to end. This is a befitting reply to those who want to end brotherhood in the hearts of the people,” he said The sentiment brotherhood is alive and will remain alive, he added.

Abdullah said Kashmir is a place of “rishi-munis and sufis”, and the Kheer Bhawani Mela is part of this common faith.

He expressed hope that the mela would spark the Kashmiri Pandits’s return to their homeland.

“People come here for darshan, to pray for an end to their problems as well as the problems facing the country. We have also come here and hope the mela is the beginning of the return of our brothers and sisters so that they live here.

“We have come here with the hope that Mata will bring them back home so that they live here comfortably,” he said.

On PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s proposal to provide land for Kashmiri Pandits, Abdullah said when he was the chief minister, he had proposed not only to provide land but also build houses for the community but the situation became “unsuitable”.

“It was former prime minister Manmohan Singh who provided jobs to thousands of them so that they come here and live here. But then the situation again became unsuitable. We now hope that the situation improves and our brothers and sisters return,” he added.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar