Srinagar/Anantnag: As a spate of targeted killings of minorities rock Kashmir it has made the Pandits apprehensive. A Kashmiri Pandit organisation Friday said some employees from the community have started moving to Jammu fearing their lives. They were provided government jobs under a rehabilitation package in 2010-11. The organisation alleged that the administration has been unable to provide them a secure environment.
The administration, meanwhile, has given a holiday of 10 days to employees from the minority community, official sources said.
A woman principal and a teacher were shot dead Thursday at point blank range inside a government school in Srinagar. The killing took to seven the number of civilians killed by militants in Kashmir Valley in five days. Of the seven, four were from minority communities.
With these targeted killings, members of the Kashmiri Pandit community fear the terror groups would target them too.
“Around 500 people or more have started leaving from different areas like Budgam, Anantnag and Pulwama. There are some non-Kashmir Pandit families who have also left. It is 1990 revisited,” said Sanjay Tiku, president of Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS)
“It may seem invisible but migration is going on. I was anticipating this. We had requested appointment from the Lt Governor’s office in June, but have not been given time till now,” Tiku, who has never migrated out of the valley, said. He said such developments are noticed much these days due to social media. “We are aware of who all have left,” Tiku informed.
Also read: Over 100 militants killed in the Valley this year: J&K Police
The KPSS says it is now evidently clear that the ‘Confidence Building Measure’ of providing employment to the Kashmiri migrants is not appreciated by the anti-minority forces. He also slammed the administration.
Vessu migrant camp in Qazigund area of South Kashmir which houses around 380 families became an epicentre of administrative actions Friday morning. Anantnag Deputy Commissioner Piyush Singla along with police officers pleaded the families not to leave the transit camp.
“He (Singla) assured us complete security and requested us not to move to Jammu,” said Sunny Raina, president of Vessu camp package employee association.
The organisation, which has 4,284 employees, had written a letter to the chief secretary expressing fear for their lives. “In a state of extreme fear and panic, we bring to your kind notice that the whole of the minority populace of Kashmiri Pandits dispensing their duties in Kashmir feels scared of the emerging grave, anti-minority situation in Kashmir. “Due to recent brutal and gruesome selective killings of members of Hindu community, all employees who belong to the same community feel insecure and frightened,” they wrote.
Raina said the camps where they stay are completely secure. However, there are several hundred employees residing outside these camps. They also have to attend to their duties in far flung areas.
“It seems that the administration is not capable enough to provide security to all the employees. Therefore, we have asked the chief secretary to exempt us from the duties till the situation returns to normal,” Raina stated.
Raina said that while 20 per cent of 380 families had left Thursday, some families moved out even Friday before the Deputy Commissioner came to the camp.