New Delhi, June 1: Anguished over the “targeted” killing of many Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Wednesday demanded that they should be given adequate security and their voices should not be “quelled”, even as he alleged that the Central government is doing “nothing” for the community.
In an online press briefing, he said that terrorist forces don’t want communal amity in Jammu & Kashmir as members of the Kashmiri Pandit community are being “targeted and killed one by one”, in a reminder of what happened in the 90s.
He also said that 16 Kashmiri Pandits have been killed this year.
Later in a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Officer, he was quoted as saying that “Kashmiri Pandits are being murdered one by one”.
“The Central government is doing nothing for the Kashmiri Pandits,” he alleged, asking the Centre to “safely rehabilitate them at all costs”.
Members of the Kashmiri Pandits are “being targeted, being dragged out of their homes and offices, and brutally murdered,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
“This is absolutely inhuman, and goes against the very tenets of basic humanity, against the values of our nation. Despite the severity of the situation, no authority is coming forward to put a stop to this violence,” the Delhi chief minister said.
When Kashmiri Pandits – our poor brothers and sisters raise their voices against these brutalities, they are locked up in their colonies to curb the agitation, he said
“I demand Kashmiri Pandits be given adequate security and their voices should not be quelled. They should be allowed to establish their homes in their ‘janmabhoomi’ (birth place),” Kejriwal said.
“It is my appeal to the Centre that to help KashmitiPandits settle in Kashmir, we will all have to work together, and we are ready to play whatever role we can,” he said.
In his media briefing, he cited names of government officer Rahul Bhat, Srinagar-based chemist MakhanLalBindroo and school teacher RajniBala, who have been killed in the Valley in recent time.
Kejriwal said, “Kashmiri Pandits are very distressed right now; all they want from the Centre is protection from terrorists. Innocent Kashmiri Pandits have no safe haven anymore. Those who try to raise their voice against the killing of their loved ones, are met with brutal action to suppress their voices”.