Kashmiri Pandits protest Tewari remarks on exodus

NEW DELHI - A group of Kashmiri Pandits Wednesday protested Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari’s reported remarks that fear-psychosis created by former governor Jagmohan had led to their exodus from the Valley.

However, Tewari said his remarks have been “quoted out of context” and “in case they have inadvertently hurt anyone I regret it”.

The agitated Kashmiri Pandits, who stood outside the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office at 24 Akbar Road, shouted slogans and burnt his effigy.

Tewari later said: “In the course of a free-wheeling discussion on constitution a remark of mine has been quoted out of context. I have not in any way suggested that terrorists and separatists did not create the condition which led to unfortunate events in the first half of 1990.”

“Being a victim of terror, I fully understand and identify with their pain and anguish. If my remark has inadvertently hurt anyone, the same is profoundly regretted, Tewari said.

According to L.N. Dhar, president of Delhi’s Kashmiri Samiti, the Congress spokesperson in an television talk show had said that Kashmiri Pandits left the valley due to fear psychosis created by the then governor Jagmohan and not due to terrorism.

“This statement is totally baseless and is insulting for the Kashmiri Pandit community, which has badly suffered for the last 20 years,” Dhar told reporters.