‘Exodus of Pandits unique case of displacement’
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Apr 27: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today said that three generations of people suffered and were badly affected after terrorism hit J&K in particular and India as a whole onwards nineties.
Addressing a gathering of intellectuals and BJP activists at party office, at Trikuta Nagar here in connection with release of senior BJP leader, Dr Kulbushan Mohtra’s book ‘Untold story of Terrorism and Proxy War in Jammu’, Dr Jitendra Singh said country as a whole and J&K in particular faced nightmarish experience of terrorism onwards nineties and three generations of people were badly hit by it.
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He, however, praised the brave people of Doda region and late leaders like former BJP president, Daya Krishan Kotwal who put a brave front and did not allow the designs of terrorists and their mentors across border to succeed by working tirelessly in fostering the unity bonds among different sections of society in the region despite they were under lot of pressure and provocations.
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“It was the result of these great leaders that mass migration from the erstwhile Doda district was stopped and pluralistic character of the region was not allowed to be eroded as was the game-plan of prophets of doom who wanted to create large scale disturbances in this region and create hatred among the different sections of society,’’ the Union Minister said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said among the three generations which suffered in the erstwhile State of J&K included our generation which was in its formative years at that time and their journey was disturbed. Second was the earlier generation which was stabilize but had got uprooted and third was the generation of teenagers whose education was affected with displacement.
He said though biggest displacement in history of world was the exchange of population between India and Pakistan due to unfortunate partition of Sub Continent in 1947 but displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from Valley in 1989-90 was the unique case of displacement as biggest ever population within its own country.
The Union Minister said even more unfortunate was that there was political design to politicise Kashmiri Pandits’ displacement. Some attributed it to the then J&K Governor, Jaghmohan and some accused Pandits of leaving Kashmir to get plots in Jammu, Dr Jitendra Singh added.
Simultaneously Jammu’s concerns on which the book is primarily focusing the distinct feature was that when mass exodus took place in Kashmir, there was strong leadership in Doda region which worked tirelessly to prevent the exodus like Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said, adding leaders like late Daya Krishan Kotwal the former President of BJP and his colleagues stood like a wall to ensure that Hindus are not made to flee from Doda under threat of terrorists. For this the brave acts of martyr Santosh Thakur and others can’t be forgotten, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the efforts of the leaders of the region helped in re-establishing composite culture in Doda region where Hindus and Muslims lived together despite threats and pressure.
The Union Minister, while referring to Dr Mohtra’s book said it is providing chronology of events in erstwhile Doda district so it is not only a documentation of those turmoiling times but prove as study material for future scholars who want to make research on terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.
He pointed out that the terrorist acts during the past 30 years in Jammu were not penned down appropriately and hence remained under dogged. He praised Prof. Kulbushan Mohtra in compiling all the incidents related to terrorism and proxy war.
Ravinder Raina, president, J&K BJP, Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, MP Candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma, MP (Rajya Sabha) Gulam Ali Khatana, former Minister, Sat Sharma and former MP (Rajya Sabha) Shamsher Singh Manhas released the book at party headquarters, Trikuta Nagar.
J&K BJP general secretary (Org), Ashok Koul and general secretary, Dr. Devinder Kumar Manyal besides other UT office bearers and senior leaders of the party were also present on the occasion.
The Book titled ‘Untold story of terrorism and proxy war in Jammu’, released on the occasion, is written by Prof. Kulbushan Mohtra, State in charge Library & Documentation Department, J&K BJP.
Ravinder Raina, in his address appreciated the hard work by the author and said that the Nanaji Deshmukh Library is well equipped and books written by Prof. Kulbushan Mohtra consist of rare information. He added that these books are helpful for party workers and people alike, who are curious to know about the history of Jammu & Kashmir in detail.
Jugal Kishore Sharma, on the occasion, said “The books hold the knowledge and we have to go through them to seek it and improve our personality and mature ourselves’’ . He requested all to go through the books in the Library Department of BJP.
Ghulam Ali Khatana, said that while there is a lot of information available in the market to create confusion and mislead the people, “we should brush up ourselves with the authentic source of information.”
Sat Sharma praised the Library Department of BJP and said that it comprises physical library as well as e-division which have the copies of the rare books and the manuscripts.
Shamsher Singh Manhas appealed to all the party leaders to spend a few hours in the library and go through these books and the documents.
Prof. Kulbushan Mohtra, the author of the Book complimented all the senior leaders of the party for their appreciating words and said that as a dedicated activist of BJP, he was given the responsibility of Library & Documentation, in which he tried to put facts and figures of nine books for the use of party activists and general masses. He added that the information in this and other books is obtained from authentic and rare sources.
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