Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Jan 27: Hurriyat (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani is in the witness box. The Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samithi (KPSS), an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits who stayed back in the Valley despite odds has accused him of playing with the sentiments of the community.
Geelani urged the people of Handwara to observe strike on January 25 to commemorate the anniversary of Handwara massacre. The massacre took place in 1998 and left scores of persons dead. He again urged the people of Kupwara to observe shut down on the 20th anniversary of Kupwara massacre that left 27 people dead. However, Geelani failed to issue a similar call to commemorate the Wandhama massacre anniversary.
On January 25, 1998 twenty-three Pandits including a minor were gunned down at Wandhama , Ganderbal. While Geelani remembered Handwara and Kupwara massacres, he forgot the Wandhama massacre.
Geelani has been further accused of selective condemnation. "The blood of Kashmiri Pandits is as red as the blood of Muslims," said a Pandit.
The president of the KPSS, Sanjay Tikoo went public on the issue. In a statement issued to a local news agency, Tikoo said forgetting the Wandhama massacre reflects the duplicity of the separatists.
"it seems they (separatists) have failed to own the Pandits who did not migrate and stayed back in the Valley," he said.
Shockingly, not only Geelani other seperatists including Mirwaiz, Shabir Shah and Yasin Malik forgot the Wandhama massacre. |
