BJP demands whitepaper on separatist leaders'' killings in J

Jammu, Feb 17 (PTI) Maintaining that political killingswere used by separatists to spread anti-India propaganda inthe international fora, BJP today demanded a whitepaper fromthe Jammu and Kashmir government on the killings of variousseparatist leaders in the state.

"We want the Jammu and Kashmir government to prepare andtable a whitepaper on the killings of various separatistleaders in Kashmir during the two-decade-long militancy," aBJP spokesperson told reporters at a press conference heretoday.

"A whitepaper should be issued by the government givingdetails of the killings of separatists and those political andsocial organisations, leaders and individuals working on thebehest of Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) inthe state," the spokesperson said.

The press conference was addressed by BJP MLAs JagdishSapolia, Lal Chand, Bharat Bhushan, Durga Dass and Baldev RajSharma.

The leaders said there was need to expose the plot ofPakistani Intelligence under which some Kashmiri separatistleaders have been killed.

The killers of such leaders have already been exposed byseparatists like Abdul Gani Bhat, Sajjad Lone and Bilal Lone,the BJP MLAs said.

Referring to the killing of Mirwaiz Maulavi Farooq in theearly nineties, they said the hand of ISI-sponsoredseparatists was indicated in his killing.

However, such killings of separatist leaders have alwaysbeen blamed on the security forces by those with vestedinterests and both the state and Central governments weresilent spectators, the MLAs claimed.

They alleged that such killings were used by theseparatists to whip up anti-India propaganda before theinternational fora and also to misguide Kashmiri youth to takeup guns.

The BJP leaders accused the separatist leaders of beingindifferent to the fact that the kiths of slain Kashmirileaders and top separatist leaders have come out bravely andexposed militants for their killings.