Kashmiri Pandit's killing fuels anger, fear and unease

Protesters alleged that the successive governments have failed to protect their lives and their rehabilitation has proved to be a mere gimmick

The latest macabre targeted killing of a Kashmiri Pandit (KP) employee has once again led to widespread anger, fear, and unease among the minority community members in Kashmir Valley.

35-year-old Rahul Bhat, who was posted in the tehsil office in Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district under a special employment package for Kashmiri Pandit migrants, was shot dead by militants on Thursday.

Immediately after the news about Bhat’s killing spread, a minuscule KP community living in the Valley hit the streets in Budgam, Anantnag, and Baramulla. Chanting slogans they demanded an end to the targeted killings of the members of the Pandit community.

Read | J&K elections: Prospects of a BJP CM

The angry protesters also raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

At a protest at Shekhpora in Budgam, Muslims joined the KPs, serving them water and demanding justice and safety for members of the community.

A video purportedly shot at Shekhpora, showed police resorting to baton charges and tear smoke shelling as clashes erupted between officials and protesters. Police said they used force to prevent them from moving towards the Airport Road in Budgam.

“We will fight it back now. The terrorists have started the war and we will end it. Policy of reconciliation and harmony has failed,” Sandeep Mawa, chairman of J&K Reconciliation Front (JKRF), told DH.

He appealed to all Kashmiris – Muslims, Pandits, Sikhs, and others – to get united to fight against those who are killing innocent people in the Valley. “The government of India must act now and the appeasement policy should end. Where is the 56-inch chest Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to talk about?” he asked.

RK Bhat, a KP employee said the community members were living under constant fear and blamed Pakistan for disturbing the communal harmony in Kashmir.

“This is the challenge for all those Kashmiris who believe in communal harmony, and brotherhood and want to restore the coexistence of secular ideals. Everyone should come out and fight the conspiracy hatched from Pakistan to sow seeds of discord between two communities,” he said.

Around 55000 Kashmiri-speaking Hindu families, locally called Pandits, left their ancestral homes in 1990 and migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country when a bloody insurgency broke out in Kashmir. However, more than 800 Pandit families chose to stay back.

As the insurgency ebbed, in 2010 the Center announced a special employment package for migrant KPs willing to return back to Kashmir. Over four thousand KPs are living in transit camps in various parts of Kashmir after they were given government jobs under the package.

Rahul Bhat was also employed as a clerk under the package before two terrorists, belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, entered his office and shot him dead on Thursday afternoon. Last October Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent Pandit businessman, was shot dead inside his pharmacy in Srinagar.

After Bhat’s killing, the KP government employees called for an indefinite strike. “We are going for an indefinite pen-down strike, unless and until our lives are safeguarded and we feel a sense of security,” a KP employee said.