Friday, March 31 2006 15:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has assured youths of the Kashmiri Pandit community that they would be given their due share in state government jobs.

Addressing a 'Navreh' (New Year) function at the Kashmiri Pandit Sabha last evening, Azad pointed out that Kashmiri Pandits have got proportionately less jobs in the Government over the last 16 years and said this was a cause for concern.

The Chief Minister noted that it was necessary to have people from every community in government services for the 'overall health' of the state and said elaborate steps will be taken to ensure the Kashmiri Pandits got their due share.

"Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri pandits," he said.

According to Azad, militancy in Kashmir is a temporary phase and the situation will return to normal in a couple of years, paving the way for the return of those who had migrated from the Valley.

Expressing concern over the demand for a homeland from sections of the community, Azad said "The entire Valley is the homeland of the Pandits and there is no need for them to limit themselves to just a corner or mohalla in Kashmir."

Azad said that as Minister of State for Home in the 1980s, he had rejected the 'separate homeland' demand of Hindus from Punjab who had migrated to Delhi due to militancy as he wanted to rehabilitate them permanently.

"At that time, I had told them that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari entire India is theirs and one cannot be confined to a particular portion. Same is my word for those who demand a separate homeland in Kashmir today," he said.