E-Paper
Kashmiri Pandits to field candidates for LS polls
A migrant Kashmiri Hindus' group on Saturday said it would field candidates from two of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
A migrant Kashmiri Hindus' group on Saturday said it would field candidates from two of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
The Jammu Kashmir National United Front, a political party founded by and for the Kashmiri Pandits - Hindus who have always been seen as a political elite in the Muslim majority state - will field its candidates in their original home, the Kashmir Valley.
The valley has three Lok Sabha seats but the JKNUF will contest from Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies.
In the mosaic of ethnic and religious diversity in Jammu and Kashmir, some 300,000 Pandits fled the Kashmir Valley from 1989 as Muslim militancy peaked, at times targeting members of the community.
Today, most of them live in Jammu, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Mumbai. Only about 3,000 still reside in the Kashmir Valley.
