Leaders hail Kheer Bhawani Mela, urge Pandits' return

Leaders across party lines Tuesday hailed the congregation of devotees at the Mela Kheer Bhawani in Kashmir, despite the Pahalgam attack and heightened border tension, as a symbol of resilience and advocated for the dignified return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mela Kheer Bhawani, one of the biggest religious functions of Kashmiri Pandits, is being celebrated on ‘Zyeth Atham’, also known as ‘Jyeshtha Ashtami’, Tuesday.

Amid tight security arrangements, hundreds of people, mostly Kashmiri Pandits, left for the Valley in a convoy of 60 buses early Sunday from Jammu to take part in the annual fair in Ganderbal district. President of the ruling National Conference (NC), Farooq Abdullah, hoped that Kashmiri Pandits would return to the Valley as their presence at the Mela Kheer Bhawani in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack was "a befitting reply” to its perpetrators.