Friday, 17 May, 2024
The centre is providing significant schemes and opportunities for the Kashmiri Pandits but the promise of protection of minorities still remains unfulfille
Kashmiri Pandits are beginning to experience dread once again after a militant shot dead a Kashmiri Pandit and injured another member of the community in an orchard in south Kashmir's Shopian on Tuesday. This is the second attack on pandits in Shopian this year. Earlier in April, a Pandit shopkeeper was shot in his shop and left injured. According to the data released by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in the Rajya Sabha in April 2022, 14 Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus have been killed in Kashmir after the dilution of Article 370.
Recently, in an open letter to the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Pankaj Mithal, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), a prominent Pandit organization that primarily addresses the concerns of resident Kashmiri Pandits / Hindus who stayed back in the Valley, requested the Chief Justice’s intervention to allow terrified Pandits to leave the Valley. According to a report by The Hindu, Kashmiri Pandits living at the Mattan transit colony in Anantnag have claimed that over 80 percent of the families left for Jammu since June 1, 2022.
In recent times, it is not difficult to notice how the Kashmiri Pandits are being forced to leave the Valley due to the targeted killings carried out by certain terrorist groups. It has been more than three decades since the Kashmir valley witnessed the bloodiest night in the history of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. In 1990, the Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus were attacked by the militants, who then brutally murdered their families. The terrified and defenseless Kashmiri Pandits who survived the night fled the Valley on the morning of January 20 and in the weeks and years that followed, becoming refugees in their homeland. According to KPSS, an estimated 75,343 Kashmiri Pandits left Valley in January 1990, while another 70,000 left between February and March of the same year, and approximately 650 Pandits were murdered during that time, as per estimates.
The accompanying chart shows the rise in killings of Kashmiri migrants between 2017 and 2022 (till March 2022). According to data released by the MHA, 23 Kashmiri minorities were killed between 2018-2022, while 11 were killed in 2017.
As a matter of fact, after Article 370 was brought before the Parliament, the number of Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus killed by the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir from August 5, 2019 to March 24, 2022 stood at 14.
Source: Rajya Sabha
However, the government stated that they have taken several measures to ensure the safety of the minorities in the valley. These include a robust security and intelligence grid, group security in the form of static guards, day and night area domination, round–the–clock checking at nakas, patrolling in the areas where the minorities reside besides proactive operations against terrorists, but the data shows Kashmiri Pandits continue to face threats. The Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai earlier stated that after the repeal of Article 370, about 2,105 migrants have returned back to Kashmir Valley for taking up the jobs provided under the Prime Minister’s Development Package. In addition to that, Rai stated that a portal was started by the government in September 2021 to help in restoring the property of Kashmiri migrants whose properties were snatched or forcefully taken away. If their complaints are genuine, action will be taken. So far, 610 properties have been restored to the rightful claimants.
In another reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Minister said that under Prime Minister’s Development Package (2015), 3,000 State government jobs for Kashmiri migrants have been created. The selection process for appointment of 2,828 migrants has been completed, out of which 1,913 migrants have been appointed and verification of documents in respect of the remaining 915 migrants has been taken up. It seems that centre is providing significant schemes and opportunities for the Kashmiri Pandits but the promise of protection of minorities still remains unfulfilled.
