Rahul Gandhi claims on exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, Srinagar Airport `dismisses` tweet as rumour

The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to restore peace in the union territory, reports ANI.

The Srinagar Airport authorities have denied that Kashmiri Pandits have departed the Valley, as claimed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The administration issued a statement after Rahul Gandhi indicated in a tweet that many innocent people are being killed in Jammu and Kashmir and that a new migration of Kashmiri Pandits has begun in the Valley. The airport administration also requested that such rumours not be spread. "We strongly rebut this sensational rumour-mongering. We handle between 16 thousand to 18 thousand passengers every day. Today also the number of passengers is average. There is no heavy rush of the minority community, as rumoured by this tweet. Please do not spread rumours like this," Srinagar Airport said in a tweet.

The Congress leader also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to restore peace in the union territory. Further attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress MP said those who should be protecting the Kashmiri Pandits are busy promoting a film.

"Bank managers, teachers and many innocent people are getting killed every day; Kashmiri Pandits are fleeing. Those who have to protect them have no time to promote the film. BJP has only made Kashmir its ladder of power. Take immediate steps to restore peace in Kashmir, Prime Minister," he said in a tweet. Meanwhile, BJP leader Kavindra Gupta said that the government and security forces have worked in the past and will continue to do so, and these people will not survive.

He also assured me that the situation will come under control soon."For the last two years, the security forces and the government have made efforts to maintain peace in Kashmir. For the condition which has been created for a few days, the administration has made a new way for the security. Yesterday the administration also said that all the people should be taken to a safe place," said Gupta.

Attacking the previous governments in the Valley, the BJP leader said, "The governments of those who have been running for 70 years, whether it was Rahul Gandhi`s Congress or the PDP government around it, this is started during that period. These are the people who support Pakistan; today, they remembered all of these things; these are the people who question the security forces and the surgical strikes and don`t take them seriously."He said that after the incidents of killing, it is obvious that there is a palace of fear, and the Home Minister Amit Shah has said that a major operation is needed.

Another BJP leader, Ravinder Raina, said that terrorism has flourished in Kashmiri because of the wrong policies of Rahul Gandhi`s Congress.

It is the Congress party which has contributed to terrorism in the Vallery. Rahul Gandhi and his party have sympathies with terrorists, who have killed lakhs of Kashmiris. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Digvijaya Singh, and Shashi Tharoor have glorified Pakistan and the terrorists of Pakistan, May I ask whose leaders are they?"He further said that the whole world knows that the sympathies of the Congress party have been with the forces supporting the separatists and Pakistan.

"Congress has always supported Pakistanis," he added. Earlier in the day, a bank manager was shot dead by terrorists in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. On Tuesday, a 36-year-old migrant Kashmiri Pandit and high school teacher Rajni Bala was shot dead by terrorists in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. Over the last two months, two civilians - including Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat -- and three off-duty policemen were killed in Kashmir by terrorists.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha are likely to hold a high-level meeting here in the national capital on June 3 over the killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the Union Territory in the last few days, official sources said.

It is learnt that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh will also participate in the meeting that is expected to start on the scheduled date in the first half of the day.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, as well as Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force Kuldeep Singh and Border Security Force chief Pankaj Singh, are also expected to attend the meeting.

(With inputs from ANI)