Delhi’s Governing AAP Holds Protest Against Killings of Hindus in Kashmir
13:58 GMT 05.06.2022 (Updated: 11:42 GMT 10.12.2022)
© AP Photo / Dar Yasin
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At least 18 Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus have been killed by alleged Pakistani militants in India’s Jammu and Kashmir since the federal government abrogated Article 370 of India’s Constitution in 2019. Article 370 gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir to define its local rules.
The Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi's governing party, on Sunday held a protest in the Jantar Mantar area in the capital against the recent killings of Hindus in Kashmir and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government for the situation.
Several AAP politicians and hundreds of party workers, including state chief Arvind Kejriwal, deputy state chief Manish Sisodia, Environment Minister Gopal Rai, parliamentarian Sanjay Singh, and other lawmakers attended the protest and raised anti-BJP slogans.
Aam Aadmi Party Hold Protest Rally against Killings in Kashmir
© Photo : Twitter/@AamAadmiParty
Aam Aadmi Party Politicians Pay Tributes to Those Killed by Terrorists in Kashmir
© Photo : Twitter/@AamAadmiParty
AAP and Delhi state chief Arvind Kejriwal addressed the rally and said the valley “needed action” amid the spate of killings of "innocent civilians".
Lashing out at the BJP-led federal government, Kejriwal said: “The era of the 1990s has come again. Once again Kashmiri Pandits are forced to migrate from the valley. The BJP has failed in providing security to Kashmiri Pandits. This clearly shows that the BJP is not capable of handling Kashmir. I request that the BJP and its leaders not play politics with Kashmiris”.
पिछले 30 साल में दो बार ऐसे मौक़े आए जब कश्मीरी पंडितों को कश्मीर से पलायन करने पर मजबूर होना पड़ा। और इन दोनों ही बार कश्मीर में बीजेपी का शासन था। इसका मतलब ये कि भाजपा से कश्मीर नहीं संभलता। pic.twitter.com/yCbIRkd3YY
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 5, 2022
Slamming federal Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue, the AAP chief said: “Whenever someone is killed in Kashmir, Shah calls a meeting. How many meetings will he call? Now India wants action. People want to know what the plan is, as innocent people in the valley are being killed”.
जब भी कश्मीर में कोई मर्डर होता है तो मीडिया में आता है: "गृहमंत्री जी ने मीटिंग बुलाई.."
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 5, 2022
बहुत हो गई मीटिंग, लोग मर रहे हैं। अब भारत को एक्शन चाहिए। जनता एक्शन चाहती है, देश को प्लान बताओ। pic.twitter.com/n4DvQZWEQz
Kejriwal also hit out at Pakistan, accusing it of supporting militants accused of killing Hindus in Kashmir.
"I want to tell Pakistan to stop the petty tactics. Kashmir will always be part of India", the Delhi state chief said.
पाकिस्तान को हमारी चेतावनी है। ज्यादा हिम्मत मत करो।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 5, 2022
“कश्मीर हमारा था, हमारा है और हमारा ही रहेगा।” pic.twitter.com/dJ08a41txE
In the last two months, militants, whom India considers to be "terrorists", in Kashmir have killed eight people, including Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits, security personnel, and an artist.
On 12 May, a Kashmiri Pandit named Rahul Bhat was killed by militants in Chadoora town in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. After Bhat was killed, scores of Kashmiri Pandits staged protests, threatening with a mass exodus.
After Bhat, one person in North Kashmir was killed while three were injured after suspected terrorists entered a wine shop in Baramulla and threw a grenade on 18 May.
Amreen Bhat, a TV star, was killed in the Budgam district on 25 May, while on 31 May a school teacher was shot dead by in the Kulgam district.
Authorities in the region have said that the killings in the valley are being carried out by terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed the responsibility for some of the recent killings, including those of Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat.
Kashmiri Pandits in the valley have been subjected to ethnic cleansing by militants, according to Indian authorities. Militants have carried out killings of non-locals, Kashmiri Pandits, and Hindus, accusing them of changing the Muslim-majority region’s demography.
In the early 1990s, Pakistani-based terrorist organisations allegedly targeted Kashmiri Pandits, a minority Hindu community in the region.
At least 80 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by in the early 1990s, resulting in tensions in the valley. At the time, thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left the region and settled in other districts of the union territory or other parts of the country.
