Kishtwar situation still explosive: BJP

BJP today demanded a CBI inquiry into last month's clashes in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the situation there continued to be "explosive".

"People belonging to the minority community have been badly affected and are now even afraid of venturing out (of their homes)," Rajya Sabha MP and the BJP in-charge for J&K affairs, Avinash Rai Khanna, said here today. "The situation is still explosive," he added.

Khanna was speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters here after his return from a two-day visit to Kishtwar. "The clash was a planned conspiracy of the government and local National Conference MLA Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo... State police, too, was involved in it," he alleged, and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

Kitchloo had resigned from his post of the J&K minister of state for Home after questions were raised over his role in the clashes. The BJP leader also demanded immediate suspension of DIG of police, Vani Khanna.

The BJP MP said tension had been building up for some time before the clash broke out on August 9 but, despite possessing information about the situation, police did not take cognisance of the matter. "The NC-Congress government's reaction to the crisis in Kishtwar clearly signifies that it wants to oust minorities from the area and is trying to scare them away," he alleged. "The heads of Village Defence Committees in the area are being targeted and framed on false charges," he said.

Three persons were killed and a total of 68 shops, seven hotels and 35 vehicles damaged during the communal violence in Kishtwar on August 9.