By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will Monday hear a petition by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party seeking to restrain the state and central government from facilitating the return and rehabilitation of the militants who had crossed over to Pakistani Kashmir more than two decades ago.
The petition by the Panthers Party also sought the initiation of contempt proceedings against the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for going ahead with the return and rehabilitation of former militants in breach of the apex court order of Nov 11, 2002.
According to the petition, the order had stayed the operation of the provision for the grant of permit for resettlement of those seeking to return to the state permanently.
Panthers Party’s president Bhim Singh said that the new policy was nothing but the continuation of old one with the substitution of “resettlement” by “rehabilitation” in its name.
The apex court vacation bench of Justice P.Sathasivam and Justice A.K.Patnaik said that the matter would be listed for hearing on Monday after Bhim Singh mentioned the matter and sought the restraint order.
Bhim Singh told the court that the state government backed by the central government was welcoming the militants, who were Pakistani citizens and also those who left Kashmir 21 years ago to wage a war against India.
Seeking an urgent hearing of his petition, he said that the state government should be restrained from going ahead with the policy which was fraught with serious consequences for the security of the state and could cause “serious communal conflicts”.
The former militants feeling “homesick” expressed their desire to return to their homes during the 2006 visit of a delegation comprising present Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti to Pakistan.