From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday sought a white paper by the Modi government on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during its 8-year rule, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for alleged exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Congress media department head Pawan Khera told a press conference here on Thursday also condemned the BJP-led Centre over the targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir and sought its apology.
As terrorists carried out a number of targeted killings recently, 10 Kashmiri Pandit families left their village, Choudharygund, in Shopian out of fear and reached Jammu, according to the residents. camping in Jammu and ruling out any plan to return to the Valley.
Khera said it was the V P Singh’s government with the support of the BJP support when the first migration of the Pandits took placce in 1989. ”In 1986, when the first riot against Kashmiri Pandits took place, Rajiv Gandhi’s government was in office at the Centre. Kashmiri Pandits walked from the national stadium to Rajiv Gandhi’s office, he heard them and Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s government was brought down,” Khera said, poohpoohing the BJP that only talks of zero tolerance but does nothing.
Slamming the Centre, Khera said 70 ministers of the government are carrying out an outreach programme in Kashmir and asked if any of them visited a camp of Kashmiri Pandits.
”What is this outreach when you cannot reach out to the Kashmiri Pandits living in the camps there,” he asked.
Citing an order, the Congress leader also alleged that Kashmiri Pandit employees are being ”threatened” to return to work against their wishes.
There have been 30 targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits from January to October this year, he claimed.
”If all that they are saying is true, how is it that during the Manmohan Singh era targeted killings stopped and 75 per cent of the people would participate in the democratic process of elections in the state? We would be happy to get the answer to that,” he said.
It is very easy to blame Jawaharlal Nehru for this, Indira Gandhi for something else, PV Narasimha Rao for something else and Manmohan Singh for the rest, Khera said.
”Give us answers. You have been in power for eight years. What has been your achievement in those years in Jammu and Kashmir? You cannot hold elections. You cannot protect Kashmiri Pandits. Is that your achievement? You must apologise for what happened in 1989, you must apologise for what is happening now,” he said, attacking the BJP-led Centre.
