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BJP team 'unearths' Kashmir militants' plan to 'spark Hindu exodus'

Ramesh Bhanin New Delhi

Kashmiri terrorists have a 'definite game plan' to strike in Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur districts of the Jammu region, a two-member Bharatiya Janata Party team has said.

The team, including the party's national vice-president K L Sharma and Professor Chaman Lal Gupta, BJP MP from Jammu and Kashmir, said the objective of the militants is to ''trigger mass exodus of Hindus from the state''.

The team, which recently toured the violence-hit remote areas of the three districts, has said that the same tactic was used by the terrorists in the Kashmir valley to drive out Hindus from there.

''What gives the latest moves of the terrorists a sinister twist is that both Rajouri and Poonch are close to the Line of Control. If the terrorists are able to establish their writ in these areas, then it poses a serious security threat.''

According to the team's report, more than 150 people had been killed by the terrorists in the two districts between April 1998 and February 1999.

The report said that nearly 5000 migrants from the villages around Prankot, Narkote, Dhakikote, Challad, Jaz, Bagli, Chhanna, Shikari, Kanthi had fled from their homes and taken shelter elsewhere.

The report accused the state government of indifference towards the plight of the migrants and of not taking adequate security measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

UNI

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