Farooq Abdullah laments Kashmiri pandits' exodus; indirectly targets late Guv Jagmohan

Addressing the Kashmiri pandits in NC's Jammu headquarters, NC Supremo Farooq Abdullah on Saturday, claimed that the community was yet awaiting their return to Kashmir as those who promised it had failed to deliver. Lamenting at their suffering, Abdullah blamed ex-J&K Governor Jagmohan for the 1990 Kashmiri Pandits' exodus - without naming him. He also lashed out at the Centre for revoking Article 370 and claimed Farm Bills were revoked due to elections.

Abdullah laments Kashmiri pandits' exodus

"I still remember how the Kashmiri pandit community in Jammu were under intense suffering. Kashmiri pandits have suffered a lot after migration. The pain of the pandit community is countless. They (terrorists) thought with ethenic cleansing they will get hold of Kashmir. I am thankful to the people of Jammu who opened doors for you at troubling times," he said. The Kashmiri pandit community passed a resolution demanding political empowerment of Kashmiri pandits, passage of Temples and Shrines bill, honourable return of Kashmiri Pandits.

He added, "I want to say sorry, Sher E Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah stood there. In 1947, when tribal people came, there was no migration. You were told that you will return in one month and now it's been 31 years but you are still not back. Those who were responsible got Padam Bhushan and Padam Vibhushan and today they are with God as giving their account to him. The day will come when you will return home with honor.  We still have hate and unless the hate ends the day of your return will not come".

Lashing out at the 1990 administration, he said, "Not Muslims, but those who don’t understand religion threw Kashmir pandits out. It includes your as well as our people. To bring down our government, they went to Wanpoo in Anantnag, they had a map of Hindu and Muslim homes. The locals told them that some people who don't belong to our village are coming".

He also said that Hindus and Muslims were being divided on Mandir and Masjid. He asserted, "We brought bill for temples at our time. Many threatened us; we shouldn’t pass this, they told us. They are traitors. They won’t let it pass too. We, you and us will have to pass it together". Abdullah has demanded a  probe by retired Supreme Court judges into the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in early 1990s.

What was the 1990 Kashmiri Pandits' exodus?

On 19 January 1990, the day Governor Jagmohan took charge, Kashmiri Pandits were driven out of the Valley when a message was issued by terrorists over loudspeakers from mosques and on the streets - 'Convert to Islam, leave the land or die'. Amid massive panic, over 350,000 Pandits have escaped from the Valley in the next few months - March and April, while hundreds of Pandits were tortured, killed and raped. According to several Kashmiri scholars, the wave of exodus continued till 2000, leaving several Kashmiri Pandits languishing in refugee settlements, unable to return to their ancestral land.