Hundreds of fearful Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley on Friday for the Hindu-majority Jammu district, despite the Centre’s refusal to grant their request for transfer. In the midst of this, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), a renowned Pandit organisation, wrote an open letter to the Chief Justice of J&K, pleading with him to intervene and allow frightened Pandits to leave the Valley.
Hundreds of vehicles transporting Pandit employees and their families left the Valley early in the morning from Pandit transit colonies in Mattan and Vessu in south Kashmir, Sheikhpora in Srinagar, and Baramulla and Kupwara in north Kashmir.
Since June 1, approximately 80% of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Mattan transit colony in Anantnag claim to have departed for Jammu. “All we get from the administration are false pledges. Following the recent killings, we do not feel safe. Only a dozen families remain in the Mattan colony, out of a total of 96. On the condition of anonymity, a Pandit employee stated, “They, too, will leave this site in the coming days.”
Before daylight, the majority of the 250 Pandit employees residing in rented housing in Mattan hired vehicles and drove to Jammu district, which is around 290 kilometres from the Kashmir Valley.
“In the Valley, there have been back-to-back homicides. Our faith in the security system has been broken by the murders of a schoolteacher and a bank manager. Our only request is that the employees be relocated outside of Kashmir till the situation improves. “Posting staff to district headquarters will not help or safeguard them,” a protesting Pandit in Mattan camp in south Kashmir stated.
In the last 24 hours, 120 Pandit families from north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts have arrived at the Jagti camp in Jammu, which was established in the 1990s.
“Since 1990, the murdering of Pandits has continued. We knew where there was a higher level of hazard to life in the 1990s. Sunil, a Pandit employee, stated, “This time we’re not sure which spot is safe.”
Over 300 Pandits are said to have arrived in Jammu in the last two days, according to an unofficial estimate. The government, on the other hand, has not acknowledged or dismissed rumours of a huge exodus of Pandits from the Valley.
Meanwhile, Sanjay K. Tickoo, the head of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, a group of Kashmiri Pandits who stayed in the Valley after the 1990s, has submitted a letter to the Chief Justice of J&K. “Every member of the religious minority in Kashmir Valley is directly threatened by terrorists.” The Union Territory and the central government have failed to protect them. Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus want to leave Kashmir Valley, but the government refuses to let them. Mr. Tickoo wrote in his letter that “certain blue-eyed folks with access to the power corridors managed to post their kith and kin outside the Kashmir Valley.”
He said it was a blatant breach of their right to life, which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, since the administration failed to protect their lives on the one hand while refusing to allow them to leave the Kashmir Valley to do so.
“My request should be considered as a public interest litigation because the lives of religious minorities are in jeopardy as a result of the UT and the Central administration’s immoral and insensitive behaviour.” Mr. Tickoo suggested that the UT and the central government be directed to evacuate or relocate religious minorities living in Kashmir Valley.
He sought an investigation of all targeted deaths in Kashmir over the last eight months. “All cops and officials whose complicity or lapse in the preliminary allegations is proven should be suspended immediately.” “A Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be formed and monitored by the High Court,” he said, adding that the SIT should present its report within a certain time frame.
An imam of Anantnag’s Jamia Masjid decried the killings of members of the minority community during his Friday sermon. He urged the majority to condemn the targeted attacks and to provide safety to the minority people.
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC&I), a powerful group of local business leaders, has called the killing of innocent civilians “unacceptable and against humanity.” “It goes against Kashmiriyat’s essential essence and concept.” The assassination spree over the past few weeks has startled and upset the office-bearers of Kashmir’s leading trade group. This has harmed Kashmir’s image and goes against its cultural ethos, according to a KCCI spokesman.
