BJP only exploited KPs: Mehbooba

PTI, May 24, 2022, 6:32 PM IST

Srinagar: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday accused the BJP of only exploiting the situation of Kashmiri Pandits and doing nothing for their welfare.

“The BJP has only exploited Kashmiri pandits. If anything was done for the Kashmiri pandits, like their shifting from tents to flats, it was done in Manmohan Singh’s tenure, and when Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) sahib and (Ghulam Nabi) Azad sahib or Omar (Abdullah) sahib were here (as CMs),” Mehbooba told reporters here.

She said it was Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister who made the PM’s employment package for Kashmiri Pandits.

“The transit accommodations were also done under those governments. What has the BJP done? They have been directly ruling Kashmir for the last four years, tell me one thing they have done for the Kashmiri pandits?” she asked.

Mehbooba said that during her tenure as chief minister, the government paid salaries to Kashmiri Pandit employees even as they stayed at home due to unrest in Kashmir.

“When the situation was bad in 2016, we gave the Kashmiri pandits salaries for 17 months while they were staying home,” she said.

Mehbooba attacked the J&K administration saying there were rumours that the government has transferred over 800 Kashmiri Pandit employees – all either relatives or friends of people from the BJP — to Jammu.

“I have heard that they have transferred 800-850 blue-eyed employees under the PM’s package to Jammu. So, the anger of Kashmiri pandits is inevitable when you transfer the relatives and friends of (BJP) leaders,” she said.