Kashmiri Pandits demand relocation, 100 Hindu families flee valley over targeted killings in J-K

After the two Hindu employees were killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir over the last 72 hours, the Kashmiri Pandit community has expressed anguish and panic over the situation in the valley, demanding relocation to less-dangerous towns of the union territory.

Distressed by the killing of a bank employee from Rajasthan in Jammu and Kashmir today, hundreds of government employees took out a march on Thursday to demand their immediate transfer to their respective home districts in Jammu city.

A community leader from the valley also said on Wednesday that over 100 Hindu families have fled Jammu and Kashmir as panic spread after the killing of a Hindu school teacher in India's only Muslim-majority region, as per Reuters reports.

Avtar Krishan Bhat, president of a Hindu Kashmiri Pandit colony in northern Kashmir's Baramulla, said that around half of the 300 families living in the area had fled since Tuesday.

"They were terrified after yesterday's killing. We will also leave by tomorrow as we are waiting for a government response," he said. "We had asked the government to relocate us outside Kashmir,” he added, as quoted by Reuters.

Demonstrations were held by angered Hindus across the UT, as protesting Kashmiri Pandit employees and others posted in the Valley carried placards with pictures of their colleague Rajni Bala, a school teacher who was killed by terrorists at a school in Kulgam district on Tuesday.

The protesters further urged the government to provide a safe environment for the Kashmiri Pandit community and alleged that they have failed to stop the targeted killings by terrorists.

"Nearly 8,000 employees from different districts of Jammu are working in Kashmir under inter-district transfer policy and we are not going to return and resume our duties in the present atmosphere,” a teacher from the Anantnag district told PTI.

Earlier today, a bank employee from Rajasthan was shot and killed in a targeted murder, mere 72 hours after a government school teacher was killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. These targeted killings have sparked a wave of outrage among the Hindu community in J&K, who have been protesting for several days.

(With inputs from agencies)

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