New Delhi, April 7 : BJP MP Sushil Modi on Thursday urged the Centre to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court to probe into the killings of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley since 1989. He also demanded that the investigation should be monitored by the apex court besides reopening of the all the cases related to killings of the Kashmiri Pandits so that the culprits get stringent p shment. Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said, “Since 1989, more than 700 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in Kashmir. They were forced to leave Kashmir. It was an ethnic cleansing. It was a genocide.” Giving a chronology of the brutal killings by terrorists, Sushil Modi said, “It has been 32 years that Kashmiri Pandits have not got justice despite more than 200 FIRs being lodged. “I demand the Centre to constitute an SIT under the chairmanship of retired Judge of Supreme Court to probe into the killings. It should be backed by the CBI and NIA, and monitored by the apex court.” “In all the FIRs registered, SIT should be constituted so that culprits including Yasin Malik get stringent p shment,” he said. On April 1, Congress MP Vivek K Tankha had introduced a Private Member Bill in the Upper House to ensure rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits besides giving minority status to the comm ty in Jammu and Kashmir, amid fresh debate over the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley after the release of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’. The movie depicts complete details of how Kashmiri Pandits were subjected to the genocide and their eventual exodus from the valley. Last month, a prominent organisation of the comm ty urged the central government to set up a Commission of Inquiry into their exodus besides ensuring proper rehabilitation of the displaced people. The Kashmiri Samiti Delhi (KSD), which is a nodal body recognised by the Government of India for matters related to the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, also demanded a separate homeland for the comm ty within the Kashmir Valley to be governed directly by the Centre. DS ING
