In Kashmir, wave of fear spreads among minority community after militant attacks

Srinagar: Twenty-eight-year-old Karan Sahoo and his wife have become worried after the targeted militant attacks on non-locals especially the members of the minority community in Kashmir. The incidents though having taken place far away from central Kashmir’s Panzan area of Budgam where they work to lay bricks have however made them anxious. Barely hours after they had just laid the raw bricks stacking them up to be wheeled to a nearby kiln, whose chimneys billowed out large plumes of smoke, militants killed two teachers including a Hindu in Srinagar.

Only a few kilometers away in Budgam district several Kashmiri Pandits who are working in government jobs rushed back to the transit accommodation at Shiekpura as soon as the news about the fresh killings spread.

“We are planning to return back to Jammu after the killings,” said a Kashmiri Pandit who works in the education department on the condition of anonymity.

Sahoo and his wife have been working at several brick kilns in Kashmir for the past several years here, but have never witnessed incidents of militants targeting the members of the minority community. “If the attack happens anywhere here where we work, we will leave Kashmir,” said Karan, who originally hails from Chattisgarh.

The attacks on the non-locals have particularly increased after the abrogation of Article 370 as now several categories of people from outside Kashmir including those who have lived here for the past 15 years have become eligible for local domicile rights. Political parties have opposed such concessions to non-locals.

The authorities have also stepped up efforts to help the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the Valley and recently undertook drives to remove “encroachments” from their properties which they had abandoned after migrating from Valley. Last month authorities laid a foundation stone for the transit camp spread over 50 kanals of land in the northern Kashmir area of Khawajabagh in Baramulla to accommodate 336 families of Kashmiri Pandits who wish to return here.

An estimated 5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits migrated from Valley after the rise of armed militancy and are living in different parts of India with a majority of them settled in the Hindu majority Jammu region. Still, there are some 808 families comprising around 3,400 Kashmiri Pandits who have chosen to stay back in Kashmir. There are also nearly 4,000 Kashmiri Pandits who are employed in different government departments here and were recruited under a package for ensuring their return to Kashmir. These Kashmiri Pandits are putting up at the transit accommodations like the one at Sheikpura here.

Kashmiri Pandits said that these attacks could trigger a fresh migration and also exposed the claims of the government that the security situation has improved here.

Sanjay Tickoo, president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti, blamed the authorities for the killings. “The authorities have not taken adequate security arrangements which have left the Kashmiri Pandits vulnerable,” he said. He added that several of the migrants who earlier chose to stay back could leave the Valley.

On Wednesday a prominent Kashmiri Hindu pharmacist in Srinagar was among the three civilians killed by militants. The attacks have come in Srinagar which has also seen an increase in the incidents of militancy recently and in the last 15-days, there are at least six civilians who have been killed in the capital city.

Senior BJP leader, Ashwani Chrungoo, said that the situation in Kashmir remains grave. He said that the security situation was reminiscent of the 90s when the Kashmiri Hindus faced targeted attacks. “Police and the other security agencies have failed to guarantee a proper security environment. Such attacks wouldn’t dent our resolve to bring back the Kashmiri Hindus to the Valley,” said Chrungoo.

Chrungoo however blamed the parties of the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Front for the killings as he said that they recently issued a statement pushing for the consolidation of Muslim votes in Kashmir. All major political parties including the NC, PDP and PC have however condemned these killings.

Separatist conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also condemned the killings. The Hurriyat said that it “strongly condemns all killings, which are acts of pure violence against fellow humans and humanity.”

“APHC once again appeals to the world community to intervene in putting an end to the daily violence and tragic loss of life in Kashmir that is taking a serious toll on its people, by pushing for the resolution of the lingering Kashmir conflict, which is the root cause of all this suffering,” it added.

Successive governments have been pledging to bring the Kashmiri migrants back to the Valley. The efforts have however picked up speed during the BJP rule now.

Chrungoo said that the attacks on the members of minority communities including Sikhs have continued in the past as well. He referred to the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpura in the southern Kashmir area of Anantnag in March 2000 during the time of the visit of US president, Bill Clinton, to India.

Pheerat Ram Sahoo, 34, has got his other family members including his wife and five children from Chattisgarh to Kashmir and they live in makeshift accommodation at the brick kiln in Budgam. He said that he was working here as the payments were nearly double than what he gets outside Kashmir and could continue work if the situation remains peaceful.

“Usually during winters, we move to Jammu due to the snowfall. I would continue to work if the situation doesn’t deteriorate,” Pheerat said.