Political leaders continue to taunt BJP for its handling of Kashmir
Srinagar: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that targeted killings in Valley show that BJP cannot handle Kashmir while Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut criticised the ruling party for being busy promoting some movies amid the “targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Muslim security personnel” in Kashmir.
Addressing the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) ‘Jan Aakrosh Rally’ at Jantar Mantar here, Kejriwal said that targeted killings in the valley show the BJP cannot handle Kashmir and only knows how to do dirty politics.
The chief minister also hit out at Pakistan, accusing it of supporting terror activities in Kashmir.
“I want to tell Pakistan to stop its petty tactics. Kashmir was ours and will always be a part of India…if India decides, then Pakistan will not exist,” he said at the rally held against the targeted killings in Kashmir.
The spate of targeted killings in Kashmir started in May this year which included that of Rahul Bhat, a clerk, who was shot dead inside the Tehsildar’s office in Chadoora in Budgam district.
Of the eight targeted killings since May 01, three victims were off-duty policemen and five were civilians.
Kejriwal said he will seek time from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the issue and know the Centre’s plan to stop the killings in Kashmir.
He said Kashmiri Pandits are being forced to leave their homes, a repeat of what happened in the 1990s. “Whenever the BJP is in power in Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits are forced to leave the Valley,” he alleged.
“This shows the BJP cannot handle Kashmir and it only knows how to do dirty politics. Please do not do politics over Kashmir,” Kejriwal said.
“The BJP government has failed to provide security to Kashmiri Pandits. They do not have any plan but just hold meetings. Many meetings were held on the issue and now everyone wants to know the action plan,” he said.
“Whenever a killing takes place in Kashmir, it is said that the Union home minister is holding a high-level meeting. But where is the action plan?
“What is the plan? Kashmir wants an action plan. Yesterday, I saw that a three-hour-long high-level meeting was held. There have been too many meetings. Please take some action on the ground. People are dying,” he added.
The AAP national convener demanded the Centre make public its plan to deal with the situation in the Valley.
“The Centre should tell the public about its plan to tackle the situation in Kashmir, cancel the bond signed with Kashmiri Pandits that says they cannot work outside Kashmir, fulfill all their demands and provide them security,” Kejriwal said.
The security of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley was discussed threadbare at a high-level meeting in Delhi on Friday that was chaired by Shah, who took stock of the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, according to officials.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha were among those who attended the meeting.
Kejriwal claimed around 4,500 Kashmiri Pandits were rehabilitated and given jobs in the Valley under the PM’s relief plan but they were also made to sign a bond that they cannot work outside Kashmir.
“The bond was that you (Kashmiri Pandits) will be sacked if you ask to be transferred out of Kashmir. You will have to work in Kashmir,” he alleged.
“Kashmiri Pandits are demanding that this bond be cancelled… the entire nation wants this bond to be cancelled. Kashmiri Pandits are not bonded labourers, they are free to work wherever they want,” he said.
Scores of Kashmiri Pandits, who were employed under the prime minister’s package in 2012, have been staging protests threatening mass exodus since the killing of Rahul Bhat on May 12.
Bhat’s killing sparked demonstrations by around 6,000 Kashmiri Pandit employees at various places. They demanded they be relocated outside the Valley.
However, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday made it clear the employees would not be moved out of the Valley but transferred to safer locations.
The Centre transferred 177 Kashmiri Hindus from one place to another in Kashmir only, Kejriwal said.
“BJP people uploaded that list on social media. Now Kashmiri Pandits are saying that leaking the list is a sort of an invitation to terrorists. All Kashmiri Pandits are opposing this and asking why this list was leaked,” the chief minister said.
The transfer list of 177 Kashmir Pandit teachers is being circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Kejriwal along with all those who attended the rally observed a two-minute silence to pay a tribute to those killed by militants in Kashmir.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday criticised the ruling BJP at the Centre, claiming the party was busy promoting some movies amid the “targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Muslim security personnel” in Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut claimed the BJP was neglecting the Kashmir Valley’s security.
“Did the atrocities against the Kashmiri Pandits stop with surgical strikes (conducted by the BJP-led central government across the Line of Control). They have increased,” Raut claimed.
“There have been targeted killings of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits as well as Muslim security personnel because they are serving the country. The BJP is busy promoting movies, like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘Samrat Prithiviraj’,” the Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson said.
From Srinagar to Pulwama (in Kashmir), at least 20 Muslim security personnel have been killed, the Rajya Sabha member claimed without specifying the details.
“The BJP leaders are not speaking about this. They are busy trying to find ‘Shivling’ in the Taj Mahal (Agra) and the Gyanvapi mosque (in Varanasi),” he said.
Raut also hit out at the BJP for celebrating its eight years in power at the Centre when the situation in Kashmir was “not good”.
In the 1990s, when the first exodus (of Kashmiri Pandits) happened, the BJP was in power (at the Centre), he said, apparently referring to the then V P Singh-led dispensation which was in power with the BJP’s support.
The BJP is in power even now, Raut noted.
The NCP also targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah and claimed the Centre has failed to protect the lives of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits.
NCP’s chief spokesman Mahesh Tapase, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra, in a statement also said that BJP leaders were busy promoting “The Kashmir Files” (movie) for their own political purpose.
Maharashtra was the only state which offered a safe passage to the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, while the BJP only played with their sentiments, Tapase claimed.
“The Modi government has miserably failed to protect the lives of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits. As the country’s home minister, it is the duty of Amit Shah to protect the lives of citizens of the country,” Tapase said.
“The rise of insurgency once again in the Kashmir Valley and targeting of civilians there is a failure of the intelligence machinery,” he said.
Shah should personally ensure the safety of all Kashmiri citizens, the NCP leader said.
He further said the Narendra Modi-led BJP government had promised a safe return for Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley.
“But, those promises have turned out to be another ‘jumla’ (rhetoric) as Prime Minister Modi’s government made no concrete efforts to re-establish the Kashmiri Pandits in their homeland,” he claimed.
The BJP should get over religion and caste-based politics and ensure safety, livelihood and equality of the citizens of India, Tapase said.
On Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also expressed concern about the “targeted killings of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits” in the Kashmir Valley.
Kashmiri Pandits were fleeing the Valley, Shiv Sena president Thackeray had said. (With PTI inputs)
