BJP demands probe by a sitting SC Judge into Dr. Farooq’s role in the violence against the minority community

• Condemns his statement on threats to Kashmiri Pandit employees

JAMMU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jammu Kashmir, has demanded Probe by a sitting SC judge into Dr. Farooq’s Role in the Violence Against the Minority Community in Kashmir and condemned in the strongest possible terms his irresponsible and deeply disturbing statement of National Conference President regarding the threats issued by terrorists to Kashmiri Pandit employees.

Addressing the Lieutenant Governor and the administration, Dr. Abdullah reportedly said: “LG has the police under him. Ask him where these threats are coming from? I accuse them of being responsible for it.” This statement is not merely reckless; it raises serious questions about the National Conference leadership’s own record and its understanding of the responsibility of the state machinery. Girdhari Lal Raina former MLC and spokesperson of BJP JK-UT raised the issue.

If Dr. Farooq Abdullah is suggesting that the police and security apparatus can be manipulated or misused by those in power, then the obvious question is: what does he have to say about the period when he himself was Chief Minister and exercised authority over the police and the unified security command, Raina asked?

The BJP demands that the same standard Dr. Abdullah is applying to the present administration, must also apply to his own tenure right from September 1982 when he took over as Chief Minister in true dynastic tradition. The history of targeted violence against the minority Hindu community in Kashmir, particularly during the turbulent years preceding the mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus under his watch, cannot be wished away through political rhetoric.

Reports and historical accounts have documented attacks on Hindu shops, homes, business establishments and religious places, followed by intimidation, targeted killings and an atmosphere of terror that ultimately forced the Kashmiri Hindu community to leave  their ancestral homeland in 1989-90.

It is particularly significant that most heinous cases of targeted violence—including the killing of prominent BJP leader Tika Lal Taploo and Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo in 1989—occurred when Dr. Farooq Abdullah was Chief Minister. The subsequent Wandhama massacre of Kashmiri Pandits in January 1998, after his return to power, remains another horrific chapter that demands justice.

GL Raina emphasized that BJP welcomes recent efforts to reopen and investigate unresolved cases of targeted killings and massacres of Kashmiri Hindus. This development seems to have scared Dr. Farooq Abdullah. But such investigations must be comprehensive, impartial and free from political considerations and must include the role of Farooq Abdullah as Chief Minister, he added. They must examine not only the immediate perpetrators but also the circumstances, networks, administrative failures and possible political complicity that allowed terrorism and targeted violence to flourish. Former MLC said that BJP demands and supports the demand of the Displaced community for in-depth enquiry by a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court into forced displacement and role of political persons at helm during that time.

Dr. Abdullah’s latest statement has made his own argument particularly relevant to this demand. If, according to him, those exercising political authority can be held responsible for what happens within the police and security apparatus, then his own tenure cannot be exempted from scrutiny.

The BJP also demands that the competent investigating agencies examine, in accordance with law, whether there were administrative failures, political pressures, deliberate omissions or other factors during the periods when Dr. Farooq Abdullah headed the government that contributed to the victimisation of Kashmiri Hindus. GL Raina asserted that no individual, however politically influential, should be beyond investigation.

The frustration of Dr. Farooq Abdullah and other National Conference leaders is becoming increasingly visible following the massive BJP demonstration in Srinagar. The reopening of long-pending cases relating to the targeted killings of Kashmiri Hindus and the renewed demand for justice have clearly unsettled those who would prefer that these painful chapters of Kashmir’s history remain buried.

The most absurd aspect of Dr. Abdullah’s argument is his attempt to create a false equivalence concerning the security of Hindu officers. The people of Kashmir have a legitimate right to ask: why did terrorism and Pakistan-sponsored separatism so disproportionately target ordinary Kashmiri Hindus, while the political establishment that ruled Kashmir for decades including Abdullah’s remained largely insulated from the same violence?

The Kashmiri Hindu community does not need political lectures from those who were in positions of authority when its darkest chapter unfolded. It needs truth, justice, accountability and the right to return to its homeland with dignity and security.

The BJP urges the Lieutenant Governor’s administration and competent investigating agencies to take serious note of such irresponsible statements and to ensure that all credible allegations relating to the persecution, targeted killings and mass displacement of Kashmiri Hindus are investigated objectively.

No political dynasty, no former Chief Minister and no individual occupying a position of influence can be above the law. The truth about the tragedy of Kashmiri Hindus must come out, however uncomfortable that truth may be.