Explained: Will rise in attacks on Kashmiri Pandits force them to flee Valley again?

The murder of a Kashmiri Pandit and his brother being injured by militants at an apple orchard in Shopian district – the second attack on non-migrant Pandits in Kashmir in less than 24 hours – has set the community on edge. On Monday, terrorists threw a grenade at a house in Budgam’s Chadoora and injured a civilian identified as Karan Kumar Singh, who was shifted to a Srinagar hospital. That, as another grenade attack occurred in Srinagar district. A total of 15 civilians and six security forces personnel have been killed in attacks this year. A policeman was killed in Nowhatta on Sunday and a migrant labourer from Bihar was shot dead in Bandipora last week. The migrant labourer Mohd Amrez was the fourth non-local to be killed in a targeted attack in Kashmir this year. Which raises the question– will the Kashmiri Pandits be forced to flee the Valley again in the wake of these attacks? Let’s take a closer look: Some seemed to have enough. The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharash Samiti (KPSS) asked the community members to leave the Valley in the wake of increased attacks on them by the militants. KPSS says around 800 Pandit families reside in the Valley after the large-scale exodus of the community in the early 1990s in the face of rising militancy, as per Hindustan Times. “With another deadly attack on Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir, the terrorists have made it clear that they are going to kill all the Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir valley,” KPSS chief Sanjay Tickoo said.

Tickoo said he has urged all Kashmiri Pandits to leave the Valley and move to safer places such as Jammu and Delhi.  

“We have seen this for the last 32 years now. The government has failed in providing security to the minorities, especially Kashmiri Pandits. How long are we going to die like this? Enough is enough,” Tickoo told PTI. Mohit Bhan, a Kashmiri Pandit activist, told The Diplomat that if the government relocates Kashmiri Pandits out of Kashmir for their safety, “all this facade of normalcy and the credit of abrogating Article 370, 35A for the betterment of Kashmir and so many other things would fall flat.” [caption id=“attachment_10464891” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  An estimated 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits reportedly fled the Valley in the early 1990s. PTI[/caption] He added that had the situation improved, “We would not have seen these killings. We would not have a sense of fear everywhere in Kashmir. Police officials are saying that hybrid militancy is on the rise. So if all this is normalcy, then God knows what good days we are looking at.” As per The Hindu, in June, hundreds of migrant Kashmiri Pandits – recruited under the Prime Minister’s special rehabilitation package, and the Hindu employees from Jammu recruited under the SC quota and posted in the Valley – blocked highways in Kulgam and Srinagar and demanded relocation f after the killing of a woman teacher. “The administration is more bothered about Kashmiri Pandits employees selected under the PM package but not the Hindu employees selected under the SC quota. I was posted in the Valley 2007 and since then no transfer policy has been drafted for the SC employees. We are left to get killed in the Valley,” a Hindu employee, posted in Kulgam, told the newspaper. “We met the LG a few days ago and demanded our relocation from the Valley. Even the Inspector General of Police said on record it will take two to three years to wipe out terrorism in Kashmir. The LG administration should shift us till then. We should not be left behind to die,” a Pandit, who participated in a protest in Srinagar’s Shivpora, said. They even demanded to mass migrate if the government failed to meet their demands. “The administration is threatening us to hold our salaries if we leave the station. They are forcing us to rejoin offices in the Valley. We should not be sacrificed so cheaply,” another Pandit protester said.

Marching on the roads in the Valley, Kashmiri Pandits shouted slogans like “only solution, relocation”.

Why is this happening? Speaking to Reliefweb, crisis group expert Praveen Donthi explained militants are targetting civilians and minorities partly because they are short on weapons. “Unequipped to engage the security forces in gunfights as they used to, they are going after soft targets, whether off-duty policemen or unarmed members of minorities. The targeted attacks, which immediately make headlines across the country, also provide an opportunity to highlight that, contrary to the BJP government’s assertions, Kashmir is still in a state of conflict.” Donthi added that tourists are the only outsiders not been attacked thus far. However,  if the government continues to insist that robust tourism is a sign of normalcy they too could become targets. [caption id=“attachment_10298461” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Silence of the Kashmiri society has made the Kashmiri Pandit community even more vulnerablKashmiri Pandits. APe. AP[/caption] She also said several new militant groups have emerged in Jammu and Kashmir over the last three years, fuelled by public fear and anger over the central government’s post-2019 attempts at demographic change. “Older groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Pakistani proxy jihadist outfits, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, are still active, but new groups with non-religious names such as The Resistance Front, Kashmir Tigers, People’s Anti-Fascist Front or United Liberation Front of Kashmir are now at the forefront of militant activity, and several have claimed responsibility for attacks on Hindus and other minorities,” she added. What’s next? Tavleen Singh, writing in Indian Express, said that while abrogating Article 370 was a courageous and historic step, it is becoming slowly clear that this was done without formulating a new Kashmir policy or mapping the road ahead. “There has instead been arrogant talk from high officials about how jihadi terrorism in the Valley has been ‘finished’. This fitted neatly into the atmosphere of hatred in the rest of India that has been created by followers of radical Hindutva. Modi’s ministers and chief ministers have led the charge but apparently without being prepared for the consequences. This targeted killing of Hindus in Kashmir could be the first of these consequences,” Singh warned_._ Singh said since the home minister is directly responsible for security in the Valley, so he is directly answerable for what has gone wrong. “The jihadists have a clear Kashmir policy. The Indian government does not. Since the abrogation of Article 370 all that we have seen are haphazard steps that appear unguided and directionless. What we need urgently is a coherent policy that goes beyond turning the Valley into a military encampment. This has been tried before and it did not turn out well,” she concluded. ‘How come tourists are safe but Pandits targeted?’ The KPSS chief said the victims of Tuesday’s attack had approached senior officials of the administration to move them to safer places in view of the intelligence inputs that suggested that terrorists might target more minority community members. [caption id=“attachment_10751691” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Representational iImage: PTI[/caption] “It is ironic that the officials told them that they have to live in their villages. What is the deal here? They have inputs about possible attacks and yet they do not secure us,” Tickoo said. Tickoo wondered about the intent of the militants in targeting the Kashmiri Pandits. “Why did they not strike during the Independence Day parade? Why was there no attack on Amarnath yatra? How come tourists are safe in Kashmir but Kashmiri Pandits are being targeted?” he asked. Asked about the impact of his call for the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, Tickoo said he was ready to face it. “The government can book me under the Public Safety Act (PSA),” he added. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and political leaders of various parties have condemned the killing in the Shopian district. “Pained beyond words on the despicable terror attack on civilians in Shopian. My thoughts are with the family of Sunil Kumar. Praying for a speedy recovery of the injured. The attack deserves the strongest condemnation from everyone. Terrorists responsible for the barbaric act will not be spared,” Sinha tweeted. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also condemned the killing. “Terribly sad news from South Kashmir today. An accident and a militant attack have left a trail of death and suffering. I condemn the militant attack in Shopian unequivocally in which Sunil Kumar was killed and Pinto Kumar injured. My condolences to the family,” he said. BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur said, “Strongly condemn the dastardly act of terror on innocent minority community members at Shopian in which Sunil Kumar was killed and another injured. Terror has no religion. Killers should be punished.” People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone condemned the attack as a “heinous act of violence” and expressed his condolences to the family of the victims. In July, the Centre told the Rajya Sabha 6,514 Kashmiri Pandits are still residing in Kashmir Valley.

No Kashmiri Pandit has left the Valley in 2022, the Centre added.

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The highest number of Kashmiri Pandits are living in Kulgam district (2,639), followed by Budgam (1,204), Anantnag (808), Pulwama (579), Srinagar (455), Shopian (320), and Baramulla (294), among others. As many as 12 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by militants in Jammu and Kashmir during 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Centre had said. With inputs from agencies