The Congress on Thursday demanded a white paper on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, asking the Narendra Modi government to explain why there was a spurt in targeted killings and exodus from the Valley.
Pointing to the exodus of Hindu families from Shopian, where many Kashmiri Pandits had refused to flee for over three decades, party spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “The situation today has turned so dangerous that they are leaving their homes. When India was celebrating Diwali, 15 families escaped in the night, fearing for their lives.”
Khera added: “Even those who learn history from WhatsApp University know that the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits started in 1989 when there was a government at the Centre supported by the BJP. Did the BJP withdraw support to the V.P. Singh government at that time? In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi pulled down the state government in Kashmir when Pandits were attacked first. The BJP boasts of zero tolerance but Rajiv Gandhi showed what zero tolerance means.”
Khera asked if the so-called public outreach by 70 ministers of the Modi government in Kashmir had covered camps where Kashmiri Pandits lived.
“Instead, Kashmiri Pandits are being threatened with punitive action by the state government if they don’t join work immediately. You can’t give them security but you are threatening them to come back only to show the world that the situation is normal.”
He added: “Since January, there have been 30 targeted killings of Pandits. The Manmohan Singh government constructed habitation clusters in Jammu for Kashmiri Pandits. The situation had become normal at that time. Communal amity was restored and violence ended….”
Demanding a white paper on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Khera said: “In the last eight years, all that has been done and not done by this government must come out in that white paper. The Modi government cannot ignore this serious issue; they should stop promoting the false history of this crisis (a reference to the BJP’s promotion of the film The Kashmir Files), and solve the problem.”
