‘Attacks on minorities in J&K revive memories of ’90s exodus’
TWO ZONAL EDUCATION OFFICES PUT OUT NOTICES ASKING KASHMIRI PANDIT TEACHERS TO STAY IN THE TRANSIT CAMP IN KHEER BHAWANI TEMPLE
NEW DELHI: Terror attacks targeting civilians, minorities and non-locals in the Kashmir Valley have revived memories of the time when the exodus of minority communities that took place in the early 1990s when targeted killings of civilians were carried out with the onset of terrorism in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir — prompting security agencies and the Union home ministry to take note.
On Thursday, after terrorists shot dead two school teachers Satinder Kour and Deepak Chand in the Valley, at least two zonal education offices put out notices asking Kashmiri Pandit teachers who were offered jobs under a central scheme to stay in the transit camp in Kheer Bhawani Temple in Ganderbal district.
HT has reviewed the notice issued by the Ganderbal district office; it specifies that these teachers, who sought security following Thursday’s killings, should stay in the temple comarrangements plex till further orders.
“We are scared; government or security authorities have not reached out to us. Most of the people who live in transit camps or rented accommodation have no security and therefore, we have decided to leave for Jammu,” said a Kashmiri Pandit government employee in Anantnag. There are approximately 1,500 employees from Sikh and Pandit communities who were given jobs under the package in Anantnag alone.
A second Pandit family also confirmed that they had sought leave of absence from work and were planning to leave the Valley. “For the past 12 years the government has not even made for proper housing for the employees who were given jobs under the package; we live in rented accommodation and are sitting ducks,” one member of this family said.
Tuesday’s killing of ML Bindroo, a prominent member of the community who ran a pharmacy in Srinagar has exacerbated fear.
“The pattern is the same, just as minority community leaders were accused of being informers in the 1990s, they are again being accused of working for the agencies. Since, no security arrangements have been made, I believe about 100 odd families will move out of the Valley by tomorrow,” contended Sanjay Tickoo of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti. Following the killings, security agencies have gone into a huddle and a series of meetings have taken place in Delhi and the newly created Union territory.
The two others killed were Virender Paswan, a migrant from Bihar, and Mohd Shafi Lone, a taxi union head in Bandipore.
Home minister Amit Shah is learnt to have deliberated upon the issue on Thursday at North
Block during a regular security review meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, Intelligence Bureau chief Aravind Kumar, and Kuldiep Singh and Pankaj Kumar Singh, director generals of Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force respectively.
A senior government officer said on condition of anonymity that intelligence and security agencies responsible for J&K have been asked to ensure that civilians are not targeted and persons responsible for these attacks are traced and punished.
Later, the IB chief had separate meetings with senior officials in Kashmir, a second officer told HT.
J&K director general of police Dilbag Singh said “the recent incidents of targeting civilians are to create an atmosphere of fear and communal disharmony here. There is a conspiracy to target the local ethos and values and defame local Kashmiri Muslims. This is being done on the instructions from agencies in Pakistan. I am sure we will find those behind these incidents very soon”.