Over one dozen Kashmiri Pandit families, who survived the three-decade-long period of militancy, have decided to stay away from Kashmir for the time-being to ensure their own safety.
Since Monday evening, around seventeen fear-stricken families hailing from Chowdhari Gund area of Shopian have reached Jammu leaving behind locked down homes. Ashwini Kumar Bhat, elder brother of Puran Krishan Bhat also reached Jammu along with his family as he too was feeling insecure after the targeted killing of his younger brother.
At present these families are camping with their close relatives and staring at an uncertain future ahead. None of these families have been registered in the office of Relief commissioner (Migrants) and not entitled to any relief.
The fresh wave of terror was triggered after the targeted killing of Puran Krishan Bhat outside his residence in Shopian on October 15.
Bhat was present in the valley to look after the apple orchards. After his killing two more migrant laborers from Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh were killed while they were sleeping inside their tin roof sheds.
On reaching Jammu, these families claimed they decided to step out of their native village as they were not feeling secure after a series of incidents of targeted killings of members belonging to the minority community.
AK Raina, a close relative of Puran Krishan Bhat in Jammu said, “so far more than one dozen families have arrived from Kashmir valley to ensure their safety”. Raina said these families left behind their homes, orchards and ran away as they were not feeling safe and secure in the area despite the presence of security camps in the close vicinity of their homes. On the other hand the ongoing protest by the PM package employees entered into 178 th day. The UT administration has not released their salaries creating a piquant situation for them.
The representatives of PM Package employees claimed it is unfortunate the kashmiri pandit migrant employees were suffering at this juncture and no one is paying heed to their genuine demands forcing them to demonstrate on the
streets.
In the wake of targeted killings these PM package employees have been sticking to their single point demand of relocations to the safer areas outside the Kashmir valley as they claimed they donot want to become ‘canon and fodder’ for the terrorists who treat them as ‘sitting ducks’.