BJP has failed to provide security to Kashmiri Pandits: Mehbooba Mufti

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said the BJP has failed to provide security to the Kashmiri Pandits living in the valley, but would "sell" their blood for securing votes.

Mufti's remarks came after Puran Krishan Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit, was shot dead by terrorists in south Kashmir's Shopian district on Saturday.

"They (Kashmiri Pandits) decided not to leave Kashmir and stay with the people, with Muslims, here. Today, he (Bhat) was targeted after 30-35 years (since insurgency broke out in the valley), even as there is so much security, so many forces.

"People are jailed in the name of hybrid terrorists, sacked from services on doubt, but even then, the BJP has failed to provide security to the Kashmiri Pandits," Mufti told reporters in Bandipora.

She visited Dar-ul-Uloom Raheemiyah, an Islamic seminary. The residence of the rector of the seminary, Rehmatullah Qasmi, was raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged that not only has the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to provide security to Kashmiri Pandits, it will "go out and sell their blood to secure votes in elections".

"The (Union) Home Minister (Amit Shah) came to Kashmir, but did not even have 10 minutes for the Kashmiri Pandit employees who are protesting in Jammu for the last six months," she said.

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief appealed to imams and maulvis to make people understand the need to stay united and maintain brotherhood.

"Jammu and Kashmir will suffer because of such killings and these incidents only benefit the BJP that sells the blood of Kashmiri Pandits or security forces when they get killed to get votes," she said.