Houston: A delegation of the Kashmiri Pandit community met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston on Sunday ahead of the ‘Howdy Modi!’ event today. The delegation was thankful and expressed gratitude for the decision to revoke Article 370.
Modi hailed the hardships endured by the Kashmiri Pandits who also had to evacuate from their ancestral homeland back in 1989-1990 due to militancy.
“You have suffered a lot, but the world is changing. We have to move ahead together and build a new Kashmir,” said Modi.
“I had a special interaction with Kashmiri Pandits in Houston,” tweeted Modi along with a video interacting with them.
I had a special interaction with Kashmiri Pandits in Houston. pic.twitter.com/07coxdg0oS
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 22, 2019
The members presented a memorandum, requesting the Prime Minister to establish a task force or advisory council comprising of members from the community that would “bring together respected Kashmiri Pandit community leaders, subject matter experts, and key stakeholders both in India and abroad to advise and help in the development of a comprehensive plan to repatriate and reintegrate Kashmiri Pandits to the region.”
The memorandum added that the community looks forward to working with the Indian government and the newly constituted Union Territories to bring inclusive and sustainable development for the benefit of all, as well as to returning home in order to restore Kashmiri civilisation’s core values of peace, pluralism and religious freedom.