Journalist and author Tavleen Singh yesterday toed the Pakistani and Islamist line by claiming that then Governor Jagmohan abetted the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley which took place in 1989/90 and peaked on the night of 19 Jan 1990. She said that Kashmiri Pandits were driven out en-masse because ‘Jagmohan was unable to guarantee their security’.
Singh made these comments while defending Farooq Abdullah, who resigned as J&K CM on the same day that Shri Jagmohan took charge as Governor. We reproduce the entire twitter thread –
Many Kashmiri Pandits came forward to debunk this allegation & conspiracy theory that has often been used by Islamists in the valley and elsewhere to absolve themselves & continue playing victim.
We reproduce a thread by Rahul Pandita, a journalist and author of ‘Our Moon has Blood clots‘ – a book about the painful exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from their ancestral homeland, which responds to Tavleen Singh’s claims –
- In the wake of a new string of lies about Jagmohan and Kashmiri Pandit exodus, the facts are: On January 19, 1990, Jagmohan was in Raj Bhawan in Jammu when a vicious, orchestrated campaign against Pandits began from mosques all over Valley. The frightened Pandits began to make calls to Jagmohan and bureaucrats in North Block, asking for help. They thought they were all going to be killed that night. There are terrible, terrible stories of that night. How many do we tell you!
- Jagmohan finally reached Srinagar in January 21. By that time the Pandit exodus had begun. As they were being killed in ones and twos, a prominent Pandit leader, HN Jattu, wrote an open letter to militant leaders, appealing them not to kill Pandits.
- The ‘Gandhian’ JKLF responded by killing Jattu’s close associate, Ashok Kumar. He was shot in knees, kicked in a drain and pissed upon before being silenced forever.
- On March 7, 1990, Jagmohan issued an appeal to Pandits not to leave even temporarily. He said he will set up camps in Valley itself. But by that time some really brutal killings had taken place. Pandits continued to leave.
- Here is what Ghulam Mohammed Sofi, the editor of “Srinagar Times” had to say (in 1997) about Jagmohan’s alleged role in the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits:
- That’s was a nightmare which nobody can forget. When Jagmohan came the situation was already beyond control. The exodus started and he couldn’t do anything. The total Govt control was missing. The Police Administration had collapsed.
The Kahsmiri Pandit community has patiently waited in vain for over 28 years for justice, to be resettled in their homes and to see their oppressors like Yasin Malik punished – some of them turned to black humour to express their pain at seeing their genocide being belittled like this –
I think @rahulpandita, @smritikak & @RamblingBrook will agree, most *travelled* out of Kashmir in 89-90 did so because of extreme cold & heavy snowfall. It was indeed planned in advance, as @shahid_siddiqui ‘sir’ says, to get good discounts on bookings. https://t.co/Pv5pAkyPLI
— Bhuvan Bagga (@Bhuvanbagga) April 28, 2018
We made living in outdoor tents fashionable way back. Hope weren’t making them jealous!
— Smriti Kak (@smritikak) April 28, 2018
Making use of nearby waterfalls to take shower before sunrise. No bathrooms. How exciting, No?
— Rhythma Kaul (@RamblingBrook) April 28, 2018
Other twitterati also joined in to express their viewpoint –
That’s was a nightmare which nobody can forget. When Jagmohan came the situation was already beyond control. The exodus started and he couldn’t do anything. The total Govt control was missing. The Police Administration had collapsed.
— daljeet singh virdi (@virdidaljeet) April 28, 2018
@balamy is right. CRPF searches inside residences in populated Mohallas were ordered by Farooq but later denied by him.These were 2cause much agitation among the common public and fuelled the popular uprising.Farooq supported by Cong very cleaverly got out of the picture #Kashmir
— Nissar Guru (@NissarGuru) April 27, 2018
Instead of blaming those who were responsible for the violence you are repeatedly using the pretext used by them to brush off their guilt. Clearly, journos like you, B Dutt & Rajdeep etc are responsible for peddling a faulty narrative about 1990!
— RD (@DharRenuka) April 27, 2018
Others asked why likes of Tavleen Singh were blaming Jagmohan, but exonerating the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed (whose daughter Rubaiya was kidnapped on 8 Dec 1989 by JKLF terrorists and released after the Union Government surrendered to their demands and released 5 jailed terrorists)
This final tweet sums up the Islamist technique of spinning conspiracy theories to make themselves the victims whenever their crimes get exposed in front of the world. Unfortunately, such theories find full support from Bharat’s left-secular activists, including those who choose to wear the RW cloak when it suits them –
Hindus were driven out of #Kashmir by Jagmohan just as Mumbai attack was an #RSS plot, 9/11 was staged by the #Jews and the entire #Islamic world is an epitome of democracy, peace and plurality.
— सुशील पंडित🇮🇳Sushil Pandit (@neelakantha) April 28, 2018
Last year, a Kashmiri Pandit organization ‘Roots in Kashmir’ had filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking reinvestigation into the massacre of over 700 Kashmiri Pandits during 1989-90 for which 215 FIRs were lodged but never investigated. The SC bench comprising then CJI JS Kehar and Justice DY Chandrachud dismissed the petition commenting “You sat over it for the last 27 years…..You can’t keep shouting from the rooftops but not move courts….You are making a drama here…you are making a political speech…you are only interested in headlines.”
However, a few months later, the Supreme Court ordered the reconstitution of a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate 186 out of the 241 anti-Sikh riots cases which had been closed by Delhi Police citing lack of evidence.
What the Kashmiri Pandits have experienced and continue to experience at the hands of the secular state of Bharat offers a stark lesson to the Hindus in the rest of Bharat.
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