On Saturday, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and current Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah lost his cool when he was questioned over the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley in 1990. He walked out of an exclusive conversation with Times Now when journalist Navika Kumar confronted him over the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.
“Don’t talk to Farooq Abdullah like this, I plead. I’ll walk off the interview if you continue to ask me questions related to the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus”, he said during his interview. He added that journalist Kumar, who is also the Times Group Editor, was deliberately trying to poke him over the issue. “Aap jakhmo ko ukhad rahi hai (You are prickling the old wounds)”, he said in the middle of the interview.
#FarooqInsultsHindus
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 27, 2022
Watch how Farooq Abdullah storms off the interview with @NavikaKumar, when questioned about the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus! pic.twitter.com/mDyqx9NMub
Abdullah also accused Navika Kumar of being biased in her profession for asking him such questions. He said that she was questioning as if she is the representative of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Expressing ‘concern’ for Kashmiri Hindus who were killed in 1990 and those who were forced to leave the valley, the former CM said that all those Hindus were like their brothers. “Wo Hindu hamare bhai the. Koi hamare dushman nahi the. Hum unke saath pale hai, pose hai, jiye hai, baithe hai, mare aur jiye hai unke saath. (Hindus were our brothers, not our enemies. We have lived together and died together)”, he said.
Further, when Navika Kumar asked him about the murders of Kashmiri Hindus including justice Nilkanth Ganjoo, Tikalal Taploo, and journalist Prem Nath Bhatt who were killed when Abdullah was in power in Kashmir, he started questioning the intent of the interview. He accused the lady journalist of being a biased professional and threw the mic to walk away from the conversation.
The video of the incident went viral over social media with many condemning the former Chief Minister’s act. The video was shared by Executive Editor TV9 Network, Aditya Raj Kaul, who is also a Kashmiri Hindu. “Farooq Abdullah runs away from this interview when senior editor rightly asks him on 1989 Kashmiri Hindu genocide under his watch. This is how he ran away in 1990 and let JKLF kill Kashmiri Pandits without any effort to rescue minority Hindus”, he captioned the video.
Farooq Abdullah runs away from this interview when senior editor @navikakumar rightly asks him on 1989 Kashmiri Hindu genocide under his watch. This is how he ran away in 1990 and let JKLF kill Kashmiri Pandits without any effort to rescue minority Hindus. pic.twitter.com/9FP5B8pDXc
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) August 27, 2022
Earlier, in March this year, Farooq Abdullah had similarly refused to talk about the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. On March 22 this year, he was questioned by a few journalists in Delhi over the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. He had tried to run away from the questions and had said that a commission should be appointed to know the truth.
“I think they (BJP-led central government) should appoint a commission, and that will tell them who is responsible”, he had said. When he was further questioned about the documents that allegedly put him in the position where he was responsible for the exodus to some extent, he got angry and said, “I have told you. If you want another truth, you should appoint the commission.”
Earlier, while talking to Aaj Tak, Abdullah said that whatever happened to Kashmiri Pandits breaks his heart. He had claimed that there were 800 families of Kashmiri Pandits living peacefully in the valley, and nobody had touched them. He challenged to ask A S Dulat (then-RAW chief), Arif Mohammad Khan, and Mohsar Raza (then-Chief Secretary), who was responsible for the exodus. He said, “If any of them say I am responsible, hang me anywhere.”
