Srinagar, Dec 23 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday slammed the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over their alleged silence on killings of minorities in Bangladesh.

BJP J&K spokesperson, Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, expressed grave concern and anguish over the escalating violence against minorities in Bangladesh.

Reacting to the horrific reports of brutal killings and lynchings of Hindus and other minorities, Bhat questioned the conspicuous silence of regional leaders like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.

Drawing a chilling parallel between the current crisis and the dark days of 1990 Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmad Bhat said that the horrific visuals coming out of Bangladesh are a haunting reminder of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide. The pattern is identical, Bhat remarked.

“What we saw in Kashmir in 1990, the targeted killings, the atmosphere of fear, and the forced exodus of minorities are being replayed in Bangladesh today. It is a planned conspiracy to ethnically cleanse the land of its minority population. My heart bleeds because I see the same pain in the eyes of Bangladeshi Hindus that I saw in the eyes of my Kashmiri Pandit brothers decades ago. It is a tragedy that while the World has moved to 2025, the mentality of extremists remains stuck in the brutal past,” he said.

Raising questions over the silence of the Kashmiri leaders, he said, “Those who remained silent then are remaining silent now, proving that they have learned nothing from history. It is deeply disheartening to see that those who claim to be the champions of human rights and ‘bhaichara’ (brotherhood) in Jammu & Kashmir are today tight-lipped. When any minor incident occurs in India, leaders like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are the first to tweet and lecture the nation on secularism. But today, when our Hindu brothers and sisters are being dragged out and murdered in Bangladesh, where is their conscience? Why has their ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’ gone into hiding?”

Bhat said that Islam teaches protection, not silence. “The Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Upon Him) always advocated for the protection of the weak and showed immense grace even to those who wronged him. A true follower of the faith cannot stand by and watch such inhumanity. By remaining silent, these regional parties are proving that their sympathy is selective and purely driven by vote-bank politics,” he said.

The BJP spokesperson has appealed to the Central government to take even more stringent measures on the international stage. “The safety of Hindus, and other minorities in Bangladesh, is not just an internal matter of another country; it is a matter of civilisational responsibility. If the interim government there cannot protect its citizens, the Government of India must intervene decisively. While relocating millions is a massive logistical and economic challenge, India has always been a natural home for the persecuted. Our priority must be to ensure they are safe where they are, but if the situation becomes untenable, India will not shut its doors on its own people,” he said.

He further said that the world must hold the perpetrators accountable so that no one is forced to leave their ancestral home due to fear.

The BJP spokesperson called upon the people of India to unite beyond party lines. “Secularism cannot be a one-way street and the time has come for every political voice in J&K to condemn the atrocities in Bangladesh in no uncertain terms,” he said.

–IANS

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