No one stopped Pandits from returning to Kashmir: Farooq

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: National Conference president and former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah said Monday that nobody is stopping Kashmiri Pandits from returning to Kashmir valley, but said he doubts most would come back to live permanently, triggering sharp criticism from BJP politicians as Pandit groups blocked the Jammu–Srinagar highway seeking a separate homeland.

“When are they going back? Who has stopped them,” Abdullah told reporters in Jammu, saying Kashmir is their home and Pandits are free to return.

“There are many Pandits living in Kashmir. They did not leave. When others left the valley, they stayed in their homes peacefully,” he said, adding that most displaced families have rebuilt lives elsewhere. “They may come as visitors, but I don’t think they will return to live,” he said, citing age, health and children settled in education and jobs.

Abdullah also echoed music composer AR Rahman’s remarks on alleged communal bias, saying “a fire of hatred” is being used to divide Hindus and Muslims for elections, pointing to Jammu tensions and the Jan 6 National Medical Commission decision withdrawing permission for the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence to admit 50 MBBS students for 2025–26, officially citing deficiencies. CM Omar Abdullah and PDP alleged the move followed BJP-led protests after Muslim students cleared NEET.

BJP’s J&K unit accused Farooq Abdullah of evading responsibility for the 1990s exodus. Former MLC and party spokesperson GL Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, said the community’s flight — estimated at about 200,000 — was forced amid targeted killings and threats, not voluntary, and called Abdullah’s remarks an attempt to dilute political accountability.

Referring to selective killings of Kashmiri Pandits between 1987 and 1989, Raina said the community’s exodus “was not voluntary but forced at gunpoint”. On Sunday evening, Pandit protesters under the banner Youth 4 Panun Kashmir blocked the highway near Jagti camp in Jammu.

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