Srinagar: After another Kashmiri Pandit Sunil Kumar was shot dead by suspected militants in the Chotigam area of south Kashmir’s Shopian, the Pandit community living in the area regret over the decision of staying back in Kashmir during 90s exodus.
They said staying back in Kashmir was the biggest mistake and living here means commiting a suicide.
“Situation has turned worse for us today, we did not had security guards around for protection before,” they said.
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“Muslim community is as helpless as Pandits, we have maintained good relations even before and after the exodus,” they added.
“During Sunil’s funeral, everything was managed by Muslim community, we have no communal issues here,” they said.
“But after all these attacks, living in Kashmir means a suicide, they said.
“Forces are deployed in the village for our safety but we can’t restrict our movement to house only, we have to work in orchards for earning otherwise, we will die of starvation,” they added.
“Begging, and living in tents at a safer place as better than death.” they said.
Sanjay Kumar Tickoo, president of Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), a Srinagar-based organisation of local Pandits, on Tuesday asked all members of this minority community to leave the Valley after the killing and alleged that tourists and Amarnath Yatris remain safe in Kashmir, but non-local Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits get killed.
On Tuesday, militants fired upon a Kashmiri Pandit, Sunil Kumar, he died and his cousin brother was injured in their apple orchard at Chotigam village, Shopian.
According to police, the militant was identified by eyewitnesses’ and Sunil Kumar’s cousin and police identified the accused as a categorised militant Aadil wani of the banned Al-Badr outfit.
The statement released by Police said that Police and SFs got inputs on the presence of the accused militant Adil Wani at his ancestral house at Kutpora.
“On this information police, 34 RR and 178 Bn CRPF launched a CASO (Cordon and search operation) in the area on 17th August, the statement reads.
“However, he managed to escape in darkness after lobbing grenade towards forces,” it said.
The militant’s father and three brothers were arrested by police for sheltering the militant and attached (seized) their house after ‘recovering arms from the attic during the searches.’
Police has also formed SIT (Special Investigation Team) to probe the pandit killing case.
From 2020, Kashmir has been reporting Targeted killings against Non-locals, Pandits, Police and grenade attacks on government forces.
On May 12 this year, 35-year old Rahul Bhat, a Pandit, was gunned down by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants at Chadoora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district.
On May 31, suspected militants shot dead a school teacher, Rajni Bala (36) from Jammu.
Two days later, Vijay Kumar, a bank manager from the western Indian state of Rajasthan, was shot dead. Both Bala and Kumar were gunned down in Kulgam district.
In 2020, militants killed Satpal Singh, a Hindu goldsmith. The killing of a well-known Pandit pharmacist in Srinagar, Makhan Lal Bindroo, on October 6 of last year set off a string of killings of Hindus.
On the onset of the targeted killing and attacks, police also intensified its war against militancy in the region, with increasing numbers of encounters (military operations), neutralization of militants, both local and foreign and a crackdown against OGWs and ‘Hybrids.’
(With KNO Inputs)
