SRINAGAR: Amid recent targeted killings in the Valley, the former Jammu and Kashmir police chief S P Vaid on Tuesday suggested providing arms training and small weapons to the Kashmiri Pandits in militancy-hit Kashmir to ward off targeted attacks on the community.
In a series of tweets, Vaid said the Pandit community has been targeted for decades and there is a need to draw a composite and comprehensive security plan at the highest level in the Union Territory of J&K.
“They need to be protected at their residence, during transit and at their workplace,” he said.
Three Kashmiri Pandits – two of them non-migrants and one of them migrant and PM package employee – were killed by militants in targeted attacks in the Valley in the last five months. The latest attack took place on Saturday when militants shot dead a Kashmiri Pandit farmer Puran Krishan Bhat near his residence in the Chowdari Gund area of Shopian in south Kashmir.
Vaid said to make their (Kashmiri Pandits) security more effective, they should be equipped with self-defense training with requisite weapons. “They should also be given martial arts training so that they can defend themselves”.
The former DGP suggested that they should be armed with small arms like pistols so that they can take on militants in case of militant attack.
Asked whether the plan was workable, Vaid told this newspaper that it was very much workable and there was no harm in trying it. “Like policemen, they too can repulse and fight back the militant attack after proper training. They too can fire back on militants”.
“It is better instead of being lame ducks, they strike back whenever attacked by militants,” he said.
About the threat of weapon snatching by militants, Vaid said, “There is threat of weapon snatching but it can be eliminated by proper training of the persons”.
He said the persons from the majority community vulnerable to militant attacks including political workers and elected panchayat members can also be provided arms training and small weapons for self defence.
The former DGP further said the Pandit employees recruited under the PM package and posted in remote areas in the Valley are exposed to a greater threat. “Their services should be used from either secure offices in the Valley or relocated to Jammu temporarily”
After the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit employee by militants on May 12 this year, about 5500 PM package Pandit employees are not attending their offices in Valley for last five months. They have been protesting and demanding their relocation to Jammu due to security concerns.