The targeted killings of minorities — two were killed in May alone by terrorists — has caused widespread fear and panic amid the Kashmiri Pandit community working across the Valley. They are threatening an exodus like in the 1990s over safety concerns
‘Only solution — relocation’ chants have rung out loud as migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees have begun preparations for a mass migration out of the Valley. AP
The killing of a Hindu teacher from Jammu’s Samba district, posted in Kulgam in the Valley on Tuesday, has sparked panic — with many members of the Kashmiri Pandit community threatening to leave the area.
A wave of fear has washed over 4,000 employees from the Kashmiri Pandit community working across the Valley under the Prime Minister Rehabilitation Package owing to the targeted killings — 16, including police officials, teachers and sarpanches, since January this year. The murder of the teacher on Tuesday was the seventh targeted killing in Kashmir in May this year. The killing was also the second attack on the Hindu minority.
Rajni Bala, hailing from Samba district in Jammu division, was shot dead by terrorists on Tuesday inside the government school in Kulgam where she was posted. Before her, Rahul Bhat, a clerk in the office of Tehsildar Chadoora in Budgam district, was shot dead inside his office on 12 May.
The calls to leave prompted the Jammu and Kashmir administration to confine Kashmiri Pandits to their transit camps.
We take a closer look at what’s happening — the calls to leave the Valley and what the administration is doing to protect them.
A mass exodus?
The targeted killings of minorities, especially Kashmiri Pandits, by terrorists in the Valley has caused widespread anger among the community, who said they had begun preparations for ‘mass migrations’ outside Kashmir.
The migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees, recruited under the Prime Minister’s special rehabilitation package, and the Hindu employees from Jammu recruited under the SC quota and posted in the Valley, said they will be meeting truck-owners to negotiate a rate for transporting their goods and leaving the area.
“The administration is more bothered about Kashmiri Pandits employees selected under the PM package but not the Hindu employees selected under the SC quota. I was posted in the Valley 2007 and since then no transfer policy has been drafted for the SC employees. We are left to get killed in the Valley,” a Hindu employee, posted in Kulgam, said.
Since the killing of the woman teacher on Tuesday, hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits have blocked highways in Kulgam and Srinagar to press the demand for relocation from the Valley. They shouted anti-Lieutenant Governor (LG) slogans and demanded justice.
“We met the LG a few days ago and demanded our relocation from the Kashmir Valley. Even the Inspector General of Police said on record it will take two to three years to wipe out terrorism in Kashmir. The LG administration should shift us till then. We should not be left behind to die,” a Pandit, who participated in a protest in Srinagar’s Shivpora, was quoted as telling The Hindu.
Across Kashmir, migrant Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting, shouting slogans ‘Only solution, relocation’.
On Wednesday, protesters also blocked the Jammu-Pathankot Highway in Samba. There was also an outpouring of anger at Vessu Qazigund of Anantnag as well as in Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts.
Protesters also halted vehicular traffic movement near strategic BB Cantonment in Sonwar area. The movement at ‘Airport Road’ also remained suspended after members at Sheikhpora Camp took to the road to protest.
“We (migrant Pandits) are being killed regularly inside our offices. We only have one demand — relocate us from Kashmir,” another protester was quoted as saying.
Similar sentiments were quoted by the other Kashmiri Pandit community members. A woman said that if the government didn’t accept their demand, all migrant employees would leave Kashmir. “Like in the 1990s, we will en masse leave Kashmir,” she said.
Kashmiri Hindus protesting against the killing of a Hindu female teacher by terrorists shout slogans in Srinagar. AP
J&K administration steps in
In light of the protest and security fears, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday announced the transfer of all the Hindu government employees to the district headquarters in the Kashmir Valley.
News agency PTI reported that Sinha had decided to “immediately post” all employees under the package and minority community to “secured locations” by 6 June.
“Prime Minister Package employees and others from minority communities posted in Kashmir division will be immediately posted at secured locations and the process has to be completed by Monday June 6, 2022,” J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha told the officials at a high-level security review meeting.
Additionally, a decision was taken at the review meet that confidence-building measures must be taken to ensure that the employees feel safe and secure.
Senior officers would visit the employees for first-hand appraisal of concerning issues and monitor the complaints of the employees.
Moreover, other issues of PM Package employees such as promotions and preparation of seniority lists must be completed within three weeks.
Sources told Hindustan Times that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also chair a high-level meeting on 3 June to discuss the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the Lieutenant Governor and others.
With inputs from agencies
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