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| NC overtly or covertly responsible for 'mass exodus' of KPs | | Bhan targets NC again, says leadership responsible for KPs' plight | | Kunal Shrivatsa
JAMMU, Jan 24: Reacting sharply to National Conference leader and MLC Vijay Bakaya's defence of his party leadership over the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from valley 22 years back, the senior Congress leader and prominent Supreme Court lawyer Ashok Bhan said today that Bakaya as a neo-NC activist has no right to speak on behalf of the community.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Bakaya had defended National Conference (NC) and Dr Farooq Abdullah in response to a statement by senior Congress leader Ashok Bhan in which he alleged that NC and Abdullahs were responsible for exodus of KPs from Valley for they created a situation of political vacuum which was occupied by Pak sponsored elements in terrorizing the minority community and the patriotic elements in the valley.
Speaking exclusively to Early Times over phone, Ashok Bhan did not only take a dig at Bakaya's rejoinder but also reiterated that NC was to blame for KPs' migration and their plight.
"Vijay Bakaya can not offer sermons to the community on who was responsible or not for the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits as he did not bear the brunt of leaving one's own homeland…. He (Bakaya) didn't face the onslaught of militancy," Bhan said.
"Being a small time and petty bureaucrat at the time when Kashmir Valley was witnessing the mass migration of Pandits, Bakaya was pretty safe and secure…… The ordeal to which lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits had to go through can not be understood by him… Defending NC and Dr Farooq Abdullah reflects his lack of knowledge about what really had happened in 1990….. Bakaya can't claim to speak for Kashmiri Pandits in this context," Bhan added.
Lashing out once more at National Conference and its Patron Dr Farooq Abdullah, Bhan made no bones about making NC responsible for the exile of KPs from Valley.
"NC was overtly and covertly responsible for the mass exodus of Kashmir Pandits as Dr Farooq Abdullah's resignation in 1990 allowed the space to be filled in by the 'Jihadi' and militant elements aided and abetted by ISI. …. Dr Abdullah abdicated his constitutional and moral responsibility and shirked his political duty at a very crucial juncture which created a political vacuum in the state particularly in Valley," Bhan maintained.
"If I could recount the events which led to imposition of Governor's rule in the State in January 1990, it was nobody else but Dr Abdullah who paved the way for it…..
At that point of time, Abdullah did not even bother to consult his alliance partner Congress before demitting the office… He did not take into confidence the senior leaders of Congress including Pt Mangat Ram Sharma and Ghulam Rasool Kar viz a viz others and made a unilateral decision of resigning," Senior Congress leader said.
Unfolding the past further, Bhan said that the peace in Valley did not get disturbed overnight, however, the militancy was making inroads slowly but steadily due to the 'incompetence' and 'political vacillation' of the then Chief Minister Dr Abdullah.
"Dr Abdullah was not in grips of the power… The militancy had started to raise its head much before 1990… Incompetence, callousness and insensitivity was galore during almost three years' tenure of Dr Abdullah," Ashok Bhan said.
"He (Dr Abdullah) also mishandled the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case as 5 hardcore terrorists were released, however, as per my information the Union government was willing to let off only one of the militants as demanded by the abductors," he added.
Bhan further stated that Dr Abdullah's 'insensitivity' towards his people and state could be gauged from the fact that he left for London when Kashmir was burning.
"When country needed him (Dr Farooq), minorities needed him, patriotic Muslims needed him, his own party and his alliance partner Congress needed him, he deserted them all and went out leaving the space to be used by Jihadis and secessionist forces to enact the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir Pandits and killing of patriotic Muslims in the valley," Bhan said.
"The first victims of militancy were KPs…. The terrorists adopted the strategy of killing one to scare a thousand…. It was the collapse of state administration resulting in KP community becoming a soft target of murders, looters and plunderers… Dr Farooq has to answer the KP community which till date is forced to live in exile in its own country," he added.
Bhan demanded a judicial probe into the circumstances which led to the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Valley. |
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