Kashmiri Pandits have fled the Valley in fear after targeted killings by militants over the past month, with the Jammu and Kashmir administration locking down several Pandit colonies to avert a fresh exodus.
Pandit leader Avtar Krishan Bhat, who lives in the Veervan transit camp in Baramulla, said nearly half of 300 Pandit families had fled to Jammu from the colony and more planned to leave.
Social media buzz with posts criticising Union government policy on Kashmir .
“Many of them fled yesterday. There was a curfew-like situation at the camp today to prevent more families fleeing. Some 300 to 350 families are here now,” Bhat, member of a body representing migrant Pandit employees, told Local media .
Also Militants shot dead Rajni Bala, a 36-year-old Dalit teacher, at a school in Kulgam on Tuesday, prompting Pandit employees to demand relocation to Jammu.
It Shoud be noted after abrogation of Artcile 370 in Augut 2019 both Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah promised peace and development in kashmir valley
In view of commotions The security of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley was discussed threadbare at a high-level meeting on Friday chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who took stock of the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The meeting was convened in the wake of eight targeted killings by terror groups especially Lashker-e-Taiba in the Kashmir Valley whose victims included non-Muslims, security personnel, an artist and local civilians.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, and Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha were among those who attended the meeting.
The Home Minister reviewed the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with special focus on protection of Kashmiri Pandits living in the valley, a ministry official said.
Scores of Kashmiri Pandits, who were employed under a prime minister’s package in 2012, have been staging protests threatening mass exodus since the killing of Rahul Bhat, who was shot dead by terrorists on May 12 in the Chadoora area of Budgam district in central Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday made it clear the employees would not be moved out of the Valley but transferred to safer locations.
Officials also said the recent escalation in targeted terrorist violence would not lead to any change in plans for holding the annual Amarnath Yatra which is scheduled from June 30-August 11.
Two persons a bank employee and a brick kiln labourer were killed in Kashmir on Thursday while another labourer was injured in two separate incidents.
The bank manager was the eighth and the labourer was the ninth victims of targeted killings in Kashmir since May 1.
