PULWAMA: After living fearlessly in the village for nearly three decades post the eruption of militancy, fear and panic has gripped the lone Pandit family of Sharma’s living in this hamlet after the killing of one of their family member Sanjay Sharma by militants last week. Now, they want to shift to Jammu for their safety.
“We did not gain anything from staying back and not migrating after the eruption of militancy in the 1990. Instead, we lost a family member to bullets! We got this reward for staying here and not migrating,” Sanjay Sharma’s widow Sunita Sharma told this newspaper.
Sunita’s husband Sanjay Sharma, a bank guard, was shot dead by militants a few hundred yards away from his residence at Achen village on Sunday morning. She said the family had no enmity with anybody and they were enjoying a cordial bond with the local Muslim population, who stood by the family in this hour of grief.
“We now fear living here. We don’t want to live here anymore. We want to shift to Jammu. We urge the government to provide us accommodation (quarters) there so that we can settle and live and take care of our children without any fear or threat,” said Sunita.
Besides, widow and three brothers, Sanjay has left behind three minor kids — Sakshi Sharma (class 4th student), Diksha Sharma (class 1st) and 2 and a half years old son Shryan Sharma.
“My husband was a poor man. He was working as a bank guard. What will happen to us now? How will I look after my kids as I don’t have any resources,” said Sunita.
She urged the government to provide her government job and take care of the educational expenses of her kids.
Sanjay’s elder brother Bhushan Sharma said the family now regrets staying back in Valley after eruption of militancy in 1990. “Had we migrated also, we would not have lost our brother.”
He said they were living fearlessly in the village since the 1990s and never faced any threat from anybody.
“But after Sanjay’s killing, we feel frightened about staying in the village. We don’t trust anybody now. We fear going out. We fear bullets will come out from trees to kill us,” Bhushan said.
“There is only one solution to overcome this fear and that is our relocation to Jammu. The government should facilitate our relocation to Jammu and provide us accommodation there,” Bhushan said.
He said they fear that if they stay behind another incident can happen tomorrow.
“My son and daughter work in Revenue department. Now the family cannot allow them to go to their offices. We request the government to provide us a quarter in Jammu, compensation to the family, job to the widow of the slain and taking care of the education expenses of Sanjay’s children,” Bhushan added.