A group of 13 Kashmiri pandit families Monday jointly submitted their application in the office of Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants), Jammu for registering them as “Migrants”.
The move is set to impact a series of measures taken up by the Union Government headed by Narendra Modi to ensure early return of Kashmiri pandits to their homes and hearths in the Kashmir valley.
These fear stricken families had earlier locked up their homes in the Chowdhary Gund village of South Kashmir's Shopian district before embarking on one of the toughest journeys of their lifetime after the merciless killing of Pooran Krishan Bhat outside his home on October 15, 2022.
These families were staying put in their ancestral villages even at the peak of militancy and had not migrated in 1990.
Speaking to The Pioneer over telephone, one of the members of a Kashmiri pandit family revealed, they have lost sense of security and cannot think of returning to the Kashmir valley under the prevailing circumstances. "Today we have jointly submitted our formal application so as to complete the necessary formalities to register ourselves as migrants". The family of Pooran Krishan Bhat has already submitted their separate application for completing the necessary formalities as he was the sole bread earner of the family and was not registered as migrant.
A Kashmiri pandit teacher from Shopian told The Pioneer, "I was not moving out after the killing of Sunil Kumar Bhat in Chotipora area of Shopian on August 16. My family was scared and prevented me from attending my school. Now after the targeted killing of Pooran Krishan Bhat we decided to migrate and today I also submitted my application with 12 others to enroll myself as a migrant".
According to a 2020 parliamentary panel report, there are 64,827 registered migrant families in J&K — 60,489 Hindu families, 2,609 Muslim families and 1,729 Sikh families.
Out of the 64,827 families, 43,494 are registered in Jammu, 19,338 are in Delhi and 1,995 families are settled in other States and Union Territories.
When contacted, Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner KK Sidha said, "I was not present in my office in Jammu as I was attending the Back to Village program in Sudh Mahadev as part of an ongoing campaign to take UT administration to the doorstep of villagers". He requested to verify with the staff whether any application was submitted by the kashmiri pandit families seeking to enroll themselves as Migrants.