SRINAGAR: Outrage over the killing of a fellow colleague spilled on to the roads on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir, with Kashmiri Pandit government staff staging protests and threatening mass resignations if they were not relocated to safer places.
Protests were reported from Ghanta Ghar, Lal Chowk (Srinagar), Vessu, Anantnag (south Kashmir), Sheikhpora Budgam (central Kashmir) and Roop Nagar, Bantalab and some other areas in Jammu.
Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitating government staff who were marching towards the Srinagar airport after they were unable to meet Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
The L-G’s office tweeted that Sinha met the relatives of slain KP government employee Rahul Bhat and assured justice to his family.
Defending its action, police said there were inputs that militants might attack protesters to create communal tension.
Chanting anti-government slogans, the protesters at Sheikhpora Budgam said they were not feeling safe in view of the ongoing targeted attacks on Kashmir Pandits for the last one year.
“It (government) forced our youth to serve in the Valley under the PM’s job package. If the government was serious, it could have allotted jobs in central government. It wants to push Kashmiri Pandits back to the Valley without assessing whether the situation is conducive,” said a protesting Pandit in Roopnagar.
The All PM Package Employees Forum, an outfit of Pandit employees, reportedly sent an en masse resignation letter to the L-G, the MHA and the PMO. A letter with names and signatures of over 300 migrant Pandit employees has gone viral on social media.
The J&K administration, however, said no such letter was received from the migrant employees. In related developments, the J&K administration announced to constitute a SIT to probe all the aspects of the Kashmiri Pandit killing.
It decided to give government job to Bhat’s widow in Jammu and financial assistance, as well as bear the educational expenses of Bhat’s daughter.
Two Pakistani militants involved in the killing shot dead
The two Pakistani militants killed in an encounter with security forces in Bandipora on Friday were present at Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Thursday, confirming their involvement in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat.
Police said the two militants, identified as Faisal alias Sikander alias Mohsin and Ukasha, were killed in an encounter at Brar Aragam area of Bandipora.
IGP Kashmir confirmed the involvement of the two slain militants, who had recently escaped during an encounter and whose presence was technically confirmed at Chadoora on Thursday, in the killing.