Anupam Kher in Jammu on Saturday. (Source: PTI) Anupam Kher in Jammu on Saturday. (Source: PTI)

Actor Anupam Kher said on Saturday that the Kashmir problem will be solved once Article 370 of the Constitution is gone.

Speaking at an event in Jammu, Kher said: “The day a Bengali, a Gujarati, a Marathi, a Keralaite or a Punjabi is able to purchase land and start his own venture there, I feel the Kashmir problem will get solved. When all the people will live together, then who will kill whom…but it does not suit anybody’’.

Supporting the idea of developing composite colonies for rehabilitating Kashmiri Pandits, Kher said it is not possible for them to return to the same houses as “some have been torched, while others were sold in distress”. “The remaining few were abandoned by people while migrating from the Valley,” he said.

The actor further said that creation of smart cities should start from Kashmir and a separate area should be earmarked for Kashmiri Pandits. “Let the Kashmiri Pandits be settled first. And after sometime, if other people want to move there, let them do so. But first let them (Kashmiri Pandits) feel secure,” he said.

Kher also expressed concern over the condition of Pandits living at Jagti camp, which he recently visited with filmmaker Ashok Pandit.

“There condition is pathetic and they live in tenements which appear to be made of cardboard and are like matchboxes,’’ he said, adding that there were people suffering from cancer and TB in the camp.

Hitting out at those who returned awards over “rising intolerance”, Kher asked: “Why didn’t award wapsi happen for the 60,000 Kashmiri Pandits?” The actor further said the “season of award wapsi ended after the Bihar polls”.

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