Hindustan Times (Delhi)

‘No guarantee of life in Valley’: Kin of teacher demand action

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HT Correspond­ent

SAMBA/SRINAGAR: Rajni Bala’s family on Tuesday barely had any time to register the shock of her death.

As the body of the 36-year-old teacher arrived at her in-laws’ house in Nankechak village in Supwal area of Samba district, an increased sense of fear over the growing attacks on civilians prevailed among local residents.

“We are at wit’s end... I don’t know what happened to us. We are in a state of shock. Just two months back, she had come home and told us that they lived in an atmosphere of fear because of the increased attacks on non-muslims,” Bala’s brother-in-law Surinder Kumar said.

Bala, who was posted at a government school in Gopalpora area of Kulgam district, was shot by terrorists on Tuesday, the latest in a series of targeted attacks on migrant workers and Hindus in the Union territory. It was the latest in a series of targeted attacks in Kashmir this year.

“My bhabhi, my brother and their little daughter lived together… what more could be shameful for the government and where is the government? There is no guarantee to life in Kashmir. A common man is getting killed every day and the government only does lip service. Do minorities have a right to life in Kashmir?” Kumar said. As many as 13 people have been killed and 10 injured in the attacks by suspected terrorists in the past five months. The slain include four security personnel, three Hindus, and six local Muslims — panchs, sarpanchs and a TV artiste.

Bala’s husband, Raj Kumar, said he had requested the chief education officer (CEO) for a transfer on four occasions.

“I had requested the CEO to transfer her to a safer school on the grounds that the school is located at a remote place. Yesterday too we visited the education director’s office and submitted an applicatio­n, requesting them to post us in one school,” Raj Kumar, who is also a government school teacher, said.

“Though the order was issued last evening, had they (authoritie­s) heard us on time, it (killing) would not have happened,” he added.

The inconsolab­le mother-inlaw of the slain teacher raised concerns over the deceased’s daughter. “She has left behind a little daughter, who will look after her,” she said.

As news of Bala’s death spread, several Kashmiri Pandits staged protests across Srinagar’s Batwara and Indra Nagar areas as well as at Vessu in Anantnag district.

To be sure, Bala was not a Kashmiri Pandit and was recruited under the SC/ST quota of Kulgam district.

Protesters in Srinagar raised slogans against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre and Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha.

“Today, a sister was killed on school premises. These targeted killings are continuing and we are so disturbed. We are tired of requesting the administra­tion for our relocation,” Amit Koul, a protester, said.

“From Baramulla to Anantnag transit camps, we have decided that if the government does not take a decision within 24 hours, we will migrate from the Valley and there will be mass migration,” he added.

Bala’s killing came just three days after we requested LG Sinha to relocate us, Koul said. “We had requested them to relocate us for two to three years till things normalised here but today, there was another killing,” he said. Earlier in the day, Sinha had assured “unforgetta­ble action” against those found guilty in the case.

“We have been suffering for the past 14 years. Nobody is listening to our demands...we have been recruited under the PM package but actually the government has sacrificed us. They have left us to die here,” a second protester in Srinagar said, seeking anonymity.

“In the 1990s, our parents suffered, but now we won’t tolerate this. Our parents were helpless to send us here for jobs but now, there is open bloodshed. People are getting killed. We will continue protesting till they relocate us from here to Jammu,” a protester at Indra Nagar said.

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