Srinagar, Jan 8: A day after National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah tendered apology to Kashmiri Pandits for the “ethnic cleansing” that took place in nineties, his younger brother and MLA Hazratbal Dr Mustafa Kamal on Saturday said that the Pandit migration could be described as “mass exodus” and in no way it was an “ethnic cleansing” of the particular community.
 Talking to Greater Kashmir, Kamal also claimed that it was “army and other central agencies” that were on the forefront to hatch conspiracies to make ground fertile for the exodus of Pandit community so as to “butcher” the Kashmiri Muslims following the out break of armed rebellion in 1990.
 Pertinently, in the past 21-years of conflict in Kashmir some 209 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by unidentified gunmen.
 “I don’t think it was ethnic cleansing of Pandit Community,” Kamal, who is also the Member of Legislative Assembly Hazratbal, said. “It was actually mass exodus of Pandit community which NC criticizes in strict terms”.
 “Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit  families are still putting up in Kashmir. They were looked after by Kashmiri Muslims,” Kamal said. “The Muslims followed the age old tradition of secularism. The kept the ethos of brotherhood alive. They gave them a sense of security and Pandits who stay put here passed the tumultuous times. How a Kashmiri Muslim can be blamed for ethnic cleansing then.”
 Kamal said it was actually a conspiracy hatched by the then Union Home Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayed, the then Governor Jagmohan, Army and other central agencies to kill pandits which would give lead to their exodus.
 “The army was in forefront to inflame communal passions during that period,” he said. “Since Kashmiri Muslim was the target then. They wanted to butcher them so as to control the situation. However, Kashmiri Muslims did not allow them to succeed and majority of Pandit brothers and sisters remained safe. Later the pandits were bundled to Jammu with a promise they would be allowed to return to valley after 3-months. The communal passions were stirred just to get a reason to murder the Kashmiri Muslims”
 Quoting several examples, Kamal said after Pandits left army and other agencies started killing members of majority community, houses and shops were razed, rape incidents were reported and there was destruction all around.
 “It was all done on a pretext to crush militancy that stoked communal tensions and introduce gun by the authorities then,” he said. “It was also done to malign the majority Muslim community”
 He said Kashmiris are secularists since centuries and their aspirations have been time and again reinforced by the National Conference.
 “I also seek forgiveness from Pandit community for their exodus. It’s certainly the darkest chapters of Kashmir history,” he said. “But Muslims want them to come back and live with them. Infact separatist have time and again repeated that they should return”.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 8 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 8 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 9 Jan 2011 00:00:00 IST