JAMMU: As migrant Kashmiri Pandit and Dogra employees have been demanding the government to shift them out of the Valley in the wake of targeted killings, the BJP on Sunday appealed to them to stay back and said the government is determined to defeat the "Pakistani conspiracy".
Calling Jammu and Kashmir the country's crown, the BJP's chief for the union territory Ravinder Raina said, "We have to stand together to scuttle the nefarious designs of Pakistan, which has chalked out the conspiracy of targeted killings through its sponsored terrorists to force out minorities and nationalist Muslims from the Valley."
"We are fighting a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war for the last 32 years and our army, police and paramilitary forces have given a befitting reply by eliminating thousands of terrorists over the years to frustrate the evil designs of the neighbouring country," Raina said, addressing a gathering of Kashmiri Pandits at the party headquarters here.
He said when terrorism started in the Valley in the early 1990s, Pakistan's plan was to drive out the "nationalist forces", and hence it targeted Kashmiri Pandits and nationalist Muslims in the BJP.
"Our people fought back bravely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has given a free hand to the army, police and paramilitary forces, and the security situation in the Valley has improved satisfactorily, which is evident from the fact that there is no Hurriyat Conference-sponsored strikes and stone pelting during anti-terrorism operations," he said.
As Pakistan saw the restoration of peace in the Valley, it conspired with the terror groups to bleed Kashmir again and chalked out the strategy of targeted killings to create fear and force fresh migration, he alleged.
"We appeal to all nationalists, including Pandits, Dogras and those who have come from different parts of the country to stay back as we have to join hands to defeat the conspiracies of the enemies," he said, adding the government has already announced their relocation to safer paces and provided them adequate security.
Meanwhile, is the Centre too fragile to withstand a peaceful protest by mainstream political parties in Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti asked on Sunday.
Her remarks came after reports that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a rally against the Centre in the national capital over killings in Kashmir.
Mufti said it is ironic that the political parties from the valley are not allowed to stage protests against the killings of minority community members, while parties in other states are.
"Ironical that we the mainstream parties in Kashmir weren't allowed to hold protests against minority killings. Could it be attributed to GOIs nervousness about the fragility of normalcy in J&K? Too fragile to withstand a peaceful protest?" the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister wrote on Twitter.
Addressing the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) "Jan Aakrosh Rally" at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday, Kejriwal hit out at Pakistan, accusing it of supporting terror activities in Kashmir.
"I want to tell Pakistan to stop petty tactics. Kashmir will always be part of India," the Delchi chief minister said at the rally held against targeted killings in Kashmir.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday criticised the ruling BJP at the Centre, claiming the party was busy promoting some movies amid the "targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Muslim security personnel" in Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut claimed the BJP was neglecting the Kashmir Valley's security.
"Did the atrocities against the Kashmiri Pandits stop with surgical strikes (conducted by the BJP-led central government across the Line of Control). They have increased," Raut claimed.
"There have been targeted killings of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits as well as Muslim security personnel because they are serving the country.
The BJP is busy promoting movies, like 'The Kashmir Files and 'Samrat Prithiviraj'," the Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson said.
From Srinagar to Pulwama (in Kashmir), at least 20 Muslim security personnel have been killed, the Rajya Sabha member claimed without specifying the details.
"The BJP leaders are not speaking about this. They are busy trying to find 'Shivling' in the Taj Mahal (Agra) and the Gyanvapi mosque (in Varanasi)," he said.
Raut also hit out at the BJP for celebrating its eight years in power at the Centre when the situation in Kashmir was "not good".
In the 1990s, when the first exodus (of Kashmiri Pandits) happened, the BJP was in power (at the Centre), he said, apparently referring the then V P Singh-led dispensation which was in power with the BJP's support.
The BJP is in power even now, Raut noted.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too on Saturday expressed concern about the "targeted killings of Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits" in the Kashmir Valley.
Kashmiri Pandits were fleeing the Valley, Thackeray, who also heads the Shiv Sena, said in a statement here.
"Kashmiri Pandits were shown the dream of `ghar vapasi' (resettlement in the Valley), but they are being targeted and killed. The exodus of Pandits is shocking," he said.
The chief minister assured the Pandit community that "Maharashtra is firmly behind them."
In 1995, when the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition came to power in Maharashtra, Sena founder Bal Thackeray ensured a quota in educational institutes in the state for the children of Kashmiri Pandits, he noted.
"Our government is in touch with Kashmiri Pandit leaders and will do everything it can for their protection," Thackeray further said.