They were led by local BJP leaders
SRINAGAR: Sajjad Kichloo, the former junior home minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has said that “thousands of rioters” led by local leaders of Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party attempted to burn him alive in his hometown, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.
Hindu-Muslim clashes in Kishtwar and other adjoining areas left at least three persons dead and scores injured since Friday. Both communities suffered in large scale incidents of arson in the town.
Kitchloo resigned earlier this week saying his conscience couldn’t bear allegations that he was responsible for the communal violence.
He told The Hindu “(That day) My PSOs escorted me to the nearby Dak Bungalow. Even as we took shelter inside and began making frantic calls to senior Army and police officials, the violent crowds led by some local BJP leaders made sustained efforts to capture me and burn me alive.”
He said the rioters scaled the boundary walls and jumped in. “They smashed the glazed windows of the Dak bungalow and set on fire the bulletproof police bunker.”
The communal clashes in Kishtwar, worst in recent decades, broke out immediately after Eid Prayers.
“As soon as the Eid-ul-Fitr congregational prayers concluded at Chowgan Grounds, we learned about a minor clash between the men of the two communities at Kaleed Chowk,” Kichloo added.
“Soon we noticed multitudes of the 25,000-strong gathering running in different directions. We observed that an unruly crowd of over 15,000 men was vandalising properties and setting on fire shops and vehicles”, he said.
“Within minutes, the town turned into a battlefield”.
