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Govt wants us to lend legitimacy
to J&K polls: Panun Kashmir

Panun Kashmir chairman Dr Ajay Chungroo on Wednesday attacked the Vajpayee government accusing it of offering Kashmiri Pandits monetary incentives to participate in the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir and lend it legitimacy.

Dr Chungroo pointed out that not all sections of society were able to participate in the polls, citing the example of the Pandits, many of who have had to flee the state.

"The government's decision to hold the polls (at this point of time) is more of a strategy and not borne out of any genuine desire to help our cause," he told reporters in Delhi. "By offering us Rs 400,000-500,000, the government has trivialised our aspirations," he said.

The Panun Kashmir had boycotted the 1996 poll too.

"Today, the ground situation in J&K has deteriorated and that is why we have nothing to do with the polls," Dr Chungroo said lamenting that the Election Commission had not applied the same yardstick as in Gujarat.

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