JAMMU MARCH 29 (KNS): Former Minister and Senior National Conference Leader Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today slammed the BJP for orchestrating a smear campaign against Dr Farooq Abdullah by creating a smoke screen over his nationalistic credentials, saying the recent affirmation by Kerela Governor Mr Arif Mohammed Khan about the stand taken by the former Chief Minister in 1989 opposing the release of terrorists in exchange of Rubbya Sayeed should serve as an eye opener to them, said in a press statement issued here today.
He said the stand taken by Dr Farooq Abdullah was candidly acknowledged by Khan, a Minister in the then Mr V. P Singh government supported by the BJP, who had been deputed as emissary to end the kidnapping crisis involving the daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
Sadhotra asked the BJP to shun the propaganda against the National Conference and the former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and have some sort of introspection. He said the falsehood being furthered by the BJP speaks of the frustration ahead of the ensuing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. They are terribly afraid of the popularity of the NationalConference, which is a mass movement in every nook and corner of the state and represents the urges and aspirations of every segment of the society in all the regions and the sub-regions, he added.
The former minister said that the NationalConference Leadership has stoodlike a rock against the interests of all segments of the people, including the migrant Kashmiri Pandit community, which has been let down by the BJP during the past seven and half years. Instead of ensuring their safe anddignified return back to their homes, the saffron party is indulging in amisinformation campaign to malign Dr Farooq Abdullah. He said the measurestaken by the successive National Conference Governments under Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Omar Abdullah have taken path breaking initiatives to minimize the miseries of the displacedcommunity apart from ensuring holistic development and progress across Jammu and Kashmir.
Sadhotra reiterated the demand for constitution of Truth & Reconciliation Commission to look into the circumstances of the migration of Kashmiri Pandits and said this will bring out the truth, as has been spoken by Mr Arif Mohammed Khan. The Commission will unveil the miseries of every segment of the society including Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs during the turbulent times of the nineties. He reiterated that the National Conference will continue to seek for their safe and secured return to the Valley, as envisioned by the leadership, which believes that Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits.(KNS)