“They (Pandits) were the elite of the valleys. They may have been minority, but at that time they had monopolized government jobs, plum postings and other such social benefits.” Barkha Dutt goes on to say that the economic divide created between these Pandits and poor Muslims led to the genocide of the Pandits.
Watch this video below and see the shocking insensitive reporting of the issue, and how conveniently she brushes off the issue as one caused due to the economic divide, while it is a well-documented fact that the genocides were communal in nature and specifically targeted towards the Pandits.
Netizens also took to twitter and held a campaign and trended the hashtag #ApologiseBarkha in order to confront Barkha Dutt’s excruciating reports which not only hurt the sentiments of a billion Hindus but also justified exodus, genocide by a particular community.
Kashmiri Pandit woman recounts her plight
“We have gone through all this… We earned everything that we had through hard work and perseverance… Only we know the circumstances that forced us to flee our homes. When we reached Jammu, we took shelter in a nearby temple. We did not have anything to eat or drink. My relatives also faced a similar ordeal. Many of them were bitten by snakes and scorpions,” the elderly woman reminisced.
She then recounted a spine-chilling story about the ethnic cleansing, perpetrated by radical Islamists. The woman continued, “I have two sons. At that time, one studied in 12th std while the other studied in 8th std. Their names were written on a local Masjids, as the ones who had to be killed.”
Demands apology from Barkha Dutt:
“When a relative told us about it, I and my husband remained anxious about our children’s safety all night. We took a bus, the next morning, and fled our home to Jammu. What is Barkha talking about? She writes fake news and she gets paid for it. I am angry at her comments. She should think before speaking her mind. Barkha should apologise to all of us”, the woman concluded.
Following the Instagram video, Kashmiri Pandits and many of their supporters have started a social media campaign, demanding an apology from Barkha Dutt for trying to ‘justify’ their genocide. Many Twitter users also shared the hashtag #ApologiseBarkha and demanded an apology from the veteran journalist.
It was a written narrative of Pakistan and she was paid for that. I completed my graduation in 1974. and I know that none of my friends or any relative got Govt jobes in state government. Everywhere we use to get this answer that for you entire India is for jobs and these r ment for locals who are in majority in state. Nither we got majority not minority rights and economical migration was right after 1950. No seat for Hindus in professional collage because we are Hindu’s thought we secure highest marked than local muslims. We had lived always in fear and in elision that if they will touch us entire country will burn but allase nothing happened because we r not vote bank.