Kashmiri Panditsplan for mass migration due to spate of targeted killings in Valley

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A series of targeted attacks on the Hindus in Kashmir has sent shockwaves through the region’s Kashmiri Pandits community.The targeted killings created a wave of anger and fear among the minority community with the Kashmir Pandit community preparing for migration.

There are nearly 4,000 migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees, recruited under the Prime Minister’s special rehabilitation package, and hundreds of the Hindu employees from Jammu recruited under the Schedule Caste (SC) quota and posted in the Valley.

This week a bank employee, Vijay Kumar, from the western Indian state of Rajasthan, was fatally shot in Kulgam district – the second killing of a Hindu in the valley in three days.

Suspected rebels also shot dead Rajni Bala, a 36-year-old Kashmiri Hindu teacher, near the entrance of a government school in the same district.

Earlier on May 12, a Kashmir Pandit employee Rahul Bhat was shot dead by militants inside a government office in Chadoora tehsil office.

Since then Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting across Kashmir demanding the relocation of community members employed in the Union Territory to workplaces in safer locations.


In October, seven civilians were killed in five days — among them a Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh and two non-local Hindus.Shortly after, Sheikhpora — home to the minority Kashmiri Pandit community — saw most families moving out, NDTV reported.

Kashmiri Pandits have slammed the government over the killings, saying they have been left to die.

Nearly 3,800 Pandits had returned to the valley under a federal government’s rehabilitation policy launched in 2008. The policy included promises of government jobs and secure accommodation for the minority community.

But now, amid the killings and threats, many displaced Pandits are not sure if they want to return to the valley.