Ex-J&K Guv Jagmohan put Kashmiri Pandits in buses, said they’d be brought back in 2 months: Farooq Abdullah
NEW DELHI, March 22: Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday, slammed the Vivek Agnihotri directorial — ‘The Kashmir Files’ — calling it a “propaganda movie”.
“It is a propaganda movie. It has raked up a tragedy that affected every soul of the state, Hindus and Muslims alike. My heart still bleeds over the tragedy. There was an element of political parties that were interested in ethnic cleansing,” he said, in an exclusive interview with Indiatoday.
The Kashmir Files tells the true story of brutal sufferings endured by Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, during the Kashmir insurgency. He dismissed allegations of inaction at the time. “If people want to know the truth, they can talk to the people who can tell them, like Musar Raza, who was my chief secretary, or Arif Muhammad Khan who was a central minister at that time,” he said.
Speaking about the 1989 kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiyya by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Farooq Abdullah said, “When they [Centre] wanted to release five people whom we had caught, I refused. The Government of India was being led by VP Singh supported by the BJP.”
“It feels wrong to be talking about a dead person this way, but we must remember that it was the governor of that time who put the Kashmiri Pandits on buses. He had said ‘I will bring you back in two months. I have to use force on these people and the retaliation may fall on you’.”
Meanwhile speaking on the Kashmiri Pandit exodus of 1990, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said then Governor Jagmohan Malhotra had put Kashmiri Hindus in buses and told them they would be brought back in two months. However, 32 years have passed and his promise remains unfulfilled, Farooq Abdullah said.
Farooq Abdullah said, “We cannot forget the then Governor [Jagmohan Malhotra] who put the Pandits in buses and said, ‘We will bring you back in two months because I have to use force on these people [insurgents] and the retaliation might impact you’. It has been 32 years. Where are the Kashmiri Pandits?”
Further, he said, “I was not ruling then [during exodus]. The minute Jagmohan came, I gave up. I said, try and save the situation. You don’t trust me, trust him. On the very first day [of his rule], 50 people lost their lives. He was the man in charge. Was he able to save the situation?”
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?
Farooq Abdullah said he does not believe he was responsible for the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990.
He said, “I don’t think I am responsible. If people want to know the bitter truth, they should talk to the Intelligence Bureau chief of the time or Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan who was a central minister at the time.”
“The truth will come out when you put an honest judge or committee in place. You will come to know who’s responsible. If Farooq Abdullah is responsible, Farooq Abdullah is ready to be hanged anywhere in the country. I’m ready to stand that trial but don’t blame people who aren’t responsible,” he added.
The Kashmiri Pandit exodus of 1990 has been at the centre of public discourse since the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ released earlier this month.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
