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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
SRINAGAR: The painful, heart-wrenching memories of the early 1990s were once again returned to shake our collective consciousness as, amid target killings, another exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is underway in Kashmir.
Besides the Kashmiri Pandits, who had returned to their ancestral lands with a renewed hope following the government’s initiative to bring them back, migrant workers of the valley too packed their bags following a series of attacks on the minority Hindu community in the valley and migrant workers.
In the last three days, scores of vehicles, carrying Pandit employees and their families, left the Valley from the Pandit transit colonies in south Kashmir’s Mattan and Vessu, Srinagar’s Sheikhpora and north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara.
A majority of the 250 Pandit employees living in rented accommodations in the Mattan area hired vehicles before sunrise and moved to the Jammu district, which is around 290 km away from the Kashmir valley.
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Amit Raina, who is the coordinator of the protesting Kashmiri Pandits employees said that the decision of leaving the valley was taken after recent targeted killings by terrorists.
“The protests across the valley have been called off with immediate effect as the lives of the minorities are becoming unsafe by each passing day,” Raina said in a statement. “The decision had been taken as the minorities were left with no option but to migrate,” Raina said.
Raina said that there are around more than 350 families in the transit camp of Baramulla and half have already left.
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“We fear for our lives and feel very insecure here after the spate of targeted killings in the Valley,” he said, adding that they want relocation or will leave this place. “For us, it is again an exodus,” he said.
Avtar Krishan Bhat, leader of the Hindu Kashmiri Pandit colony in Baramulla, said that they have kept trucks on standby as they might have to leave anytime.
“We want the government to relocate us immediately and we live in fear,” Bhat said. “Fear psychosis and trauma suffered by the community due to the targeted killings are a major reason for the fresh migration of the employees,” he added.
Kashmiri Pandits said police had sealed the Indra Nagar locality in Srinagar to prevent them from leaving Kashmir. At the same time security has been stepped up around the transit camps in Kashmir where several thousand Kashmiri Pandit families reside.
To stop the further exodus, authorities have established check-posts to prevent employees from migrating. Migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees were being stopped at various check-posts on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) has demanded security for families leaving Kashmir till the Banihal tunnel.
“Kashmiri Pandit Package employees in Mattan have requested DC Anantnag to provide them security till Banihal tunnel as there will be a mass migration tomorrow to Jammu. DC and SSP Anantnag are present in Mattan Transit camp Anantnag,” tweeted the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti.
“As per my information, around 65 employees with their families have left,” KPSS President Sanjay Tickoo said. “Nobody feels safe here. Tomorrow more people will be leaving Kashmir. We will only return when safe accommodation can be created for us,” he said.
On Thursday, a report said there was a brief altercation between employees and the police at the gates of the transit camp at Mattan in Anantnag. Employees also held a brief protest outside the gate of the camp. However, senior officials arrived at the spot and defused the situation.
Last Friday, a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits met Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, and sought transfer to district headquarters, which are considered safer.
Last week, the state administration issued directions to transfer Kashmir Pandit employees given appointments under the Prime Minister’s relief package to district headquarters. That move came after a protest was sparked by the gruesome killing of Rahul Bhat, a PM Package Employee and a Kashmiri Pandit.
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National Conference spokesman Tanvir Sadiq said that Kashmiri Pandits are not feeling safe.
“It will be very unfortunate if they leave again. Kashmir is their home and we all have a responsibility to keep them safe. We want a sense of security and not hollow words. The situation is worse than what it was in the early 90s and this is how the BJP and their administration has mishandled Kashmir,” he said.
