Kashmiri Pandits’ body flays Farooq Abdullah’s statement

Jammu, Aug 21 (PTI) Lashing out at former Jammu andKashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah for accusing the BJP ofbringing about demographic changes in the state, anorganisation of Kashmiri Pandits today said the statement haspotential to aggravate the unrest in the Valley. "The statement of former chief minister has the potentialto aggravate the unrest in the Valley," President KP Sabha, KKKhosa said here today. "BJP’s basic agenda is to revoke Article 370 of theConstitution and change the demography of the Muslim-majoritystate," Abdullah had claimed on Aug 19. Khosa said that at a time when Kashmir was facing unrest,senior leaders like Farooq Abdullah should have tried to"douse the fire rather than further fuelling it." "We all know that Article 370 cannot be scrapped from theConstitution of India unless the Jammu and Kashmir Assemblyalso ratifies it," he said. He said that while PDP which was part of the governmentwas committed to strengthening Article 370, the statement byNC leadership shows that it was not keen to see normalcy backin the Valley. Khosa said that in the past 27 years, the NationalConference "never made any worthwhile efforts" to ensure thereturn of the Kashmirir Pandit community to the Valley exceptplaying politics over it. "Even today NC has not spoken about the demographic changethat took place in the Valley due to the ouster of thecommunity," he said. PTI TSS AB MNG RTMNG