A Kashmiri Pandit woman who won the panchayat elections in North Kashmir's Baramulla district said her victory is a message to other Pandit families to return to the Valley they left two decades ago.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah endorsed her win as a signal of "hope for the Valley and Kashmiriyat". Asha, a resident of Wussan Kunzer village in Baramulla district, 30 km from summer capital Srinagar, defeated her nearest rival, Sarwa Begum, by 11 votes in the panchayat elections held in the village on Saturday.
“My victory has only been possible because of the support of my Muslim neighbours. “My victory is a clear and loud message for the migrant Pandit community of the Valley. They should return to their motherland,” Asha said. Chief minister Abdullah also tweeted on the Asha's victory. Quoting residents, Abdullah posted on his micro blogging site: “We didn't see whether she is a Muslim or non-Muslim as she is a nice lady.
We gave her preference over Muslim candidates.” In his own comment, the chief minister posted: "Regardless of what the extremist elements of both sides want the world to believe, there is still hope for the Valley and Kashmiriyat." Married to a local Pandit, Radha Krishen, Asha's family stayed back in Wussan Kunzer village along with four other Pandit families who resisted the tide of migration. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley in early 1990s when the armed separatist campaign started here against the Indian rule.