SRINAGAR: At least nine non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit families on Monday relocated from Shopian district in the Valley to Jammu after a Pandit farmer was killed by militants in the district on October 15, a Kashmiri Pandit group said.
The group added that at least 17 Pandit families have left Kashmir in the last few months due to fear and targeted killings by militants. Kashmir Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) president Sanjay Tickoo told TNIE that nine non-migrant Pandit families living in Chowdari Gund area of Shopian in south Kashmir left for Jammu on Monday.
He pointed out the families left for Jammu even as their apple yield is still lying unpackaged and unsold on their farms. Tickoo said the nine families who left for Jammu had not migrated from the Valley when members of the community migrated en-masse after the eruption of militancy in 1989.
Now, the targeted killings this year have again sent across a wave of fear in the Valley. On October 15, Puran Krishan Bhat was shot dead by militants near his residence in Chowdari Gund area. Tickoo said that in the last few months, 17 non-migrant Pandit families have fled from their homes to Jammu, leaving behind everything, including their property.
Over 800 Pandit families had not migrated from the Valley in 1990, choosing to stay back with the majority community. Of them, 600 families live in the four districts of Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama in south Kashmir, while 200 families live in central Kashmir and about 25 families are presently residing in north Kashmir, which comprises the three districts of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora. Asked whether members of his community are seeking his counsel, Tickoo said, “Yes, I am receiving calls from them.
I suggest that they take the decision as per individual circumstances.”
Although security forces are deployed in the areas where the Pandits live, Bhat was killed inside the premises of his house. “The killing has caused further fear among the Pandit community,” Tickoo said. Bhat’s killing was the third targeted murder of a Pandit by militants in the Valley in the last five months.
On August 16, militants shot dead Sunil Kumar Bhat and injured his cousin Pitambar Nath Bath in village Chontipora in Shopian. On May 12, Rahul Bhat was shot dead by militants inside the tehsilar’s office in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. About 5,000 Pandit employees given jobs in the Valley under the PM package have not attended their official duties since Rahul was killed.