‘Threatened For Speaking Reality’ KP Activist Alleges Harassment For Comments On ‘The Kashmir Files’.

Sunil Pandita, a Kashmiri Pandit social activist  has alleged that unknown persons attacked his house in Jagti colony- a housing colony of Kashmiri pandits in Jammu area after his comments on ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie.

He said that after his video went viral some goons took out a rally and camped outside his house for half an hour abusing and threatening my wife when I was not at home. “They have been sending me threat messages. I am a Kashmiri Pandit who has seen extreme pressure of migration, but I will not stop speaking the truth,” Sunil told ETV Bharat at an undisclosed location.

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Sunil said that he has been receiving messages that he will be killed. “There is a truth to migration that Kashmiri Pandits have been used by the Bhartiya Janta Party for their political gains. From 1990, the BJP has been playing politics in our name,” Sunil said, adding, “If BJP wants people to hate Muslims, why does it use Muslims to garner votes in Kashmir.”

Alleging that the BJP workers attacked him he said, “I have been living a poor life, I have just said what I witnessed. I will speak against the injustice. Only the BJP workers from the Pandit community are supporting the film. Others are being silenced. I know the reality. They are living in well-settled Indian states. I know how Kashmiri Pandits suffered over the years.” Raising questions on the intent of the film he asked, “Why am I being attacked, Do I not have a right to voice my opinion?”

Sunil said that goons have been threatening him and he has been forced to go into a hiding to save his life. “The problem with the film is that they should have shown how Governments treated Kashmiri Pandits. I do not think it is correct to blame some families for the migration,” Sunil told.

He said that BJP wants to shut everyone down who speaks against their propaganda. “I have already informed the Police already about the goons. They were drunk and threatened my wife constantly. She fainted twice as the goons were threatening her,” Sunil said.

BJP Respond.

Reacting to the allegation, Jammu and Kashmir state press secretary of the BJP Pardeep Mahotra said the party did not organise any rally in support of the movie anywhere and Pandita’s allegations were baseless.

Mahotra also hinted that Pandita may be either working at the behest of someone to defame the BJP or was using the movie for cheap publicity.

“I checked with the party’s migrant cell at Jagti camp and was informed that there was no rally organised by the party in support of the movie, ‘The Kashmir Files’,” he said.

Quoting the BJP’s Jagti unit, Mahotra said the rally was taken out by some youth of the community on their own from the Jagti to the Purkho camp.

“Pandita’s utterances have hurt the sentiments of his community, which has welcomed the movie as a true representation leading to their exodus in the 1990s,” he said.

A migrant from Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Pandita openly voiced his concerns over the recently released movie, terming it a “one-sided” story aimed at widening the gap between Muslims and Hindus.

The activist, who lives in the Jagti migrant camp on the outskirts of Jammu, however, said he was not against the movie but the “politics of polarisation and continuous exploitation of the pandit community”.

“I felt the need to make people aware of the movie as I am the reality. This did not go down well with the BJP, which has largely exploited the community for its vote bank,” he said.

Pandita said the picture is not going to help them return and resettle in the valley. “The fact of the matter is that many of our members are living a pathetic life in the camps and the picture has only helped in widening the gap between Muslims and Hindus,” he added.

A college or a hospital for the community would have been better than making such a movie, the activist said.