Another hate attack: Bank employee shot dead in J&K's Kulgam

The employee of the Ellaqui Dehati Bank, Vijay Kumar was shot inside the bank premises

In the 17th targeted killing this year, militants on Thursday shot dead a non-Muslim bank manager from Rajasthan in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district despite the authorities’ assertion of an improved security situation.

Police said that Vijay Kumar, who worked as the head of the local branch of the Ellaquai Dehati Bank, a rural bank sponsored by the State Bank of India, was targeted by militants at Arreh Mohanpora in Kulgam, 70 kms from here, this morning.

The grievously injured Kumar was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

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CCTV footage shows the pistol-borne lone militant entering the branch, firing shots and fleeing. According to reports Kumar, a resident of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan had recently joined his posting in Kulgam.

The incident comes amid a spate of targeted attacks on civilians in Kashmir. On May 31, a female non-Muslim school teacher was shot dead by terrorists in the same district. On May 25, a TV artist Amreen Bhat was killed by militants in the Chadoora area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district while her 10-year-old nephew was hurt in the terror attack.

Earlier on May 12, a Kashmir Pandit (Hindu) employee was shot dead by militants inside a government office in tehsil office Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. Three off-duty policemen were also killed by militants in May. On April 4, Bal Krishan, a KP, was killed by militants near his home in Choutigam, Shopian.

Kashmir has witnessed at least 17 targeted killings, including police officials, teachers, sarpanches and members of minority communities, since January this year.

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The latest attack also comes amid a widespread protest in Kashmir by Pandits demanding that they be relocated to safer areas. Members of the community have been protesting since Bhat was shot dead.

Following the fresh killing, School Education Department directed the chief education officers (CEOs) of Kashmir to post non-Muslim employees of the department at ‘safer locations.’

According to J&K police chief Dilbag Singh, militants have started targeting minorities, civilians and people in government to propagate fear, ‘since local residents have stopped responding to their diktat.’

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“By attacking members from different parts of the Valley and from different sections of the society, the terrorists want to show their presence. And also by attacking people whose right to residence in Kashmir is questioned by terrorists, they are creating an atmosphere for Kashmiris to be attacked outside the UT,” he said.

Since December 2020, at least 18 members of the minority communities have been killed in targeted attacks by militants in Kashmir. These include five displaced Kashmiri Pandits, two Sikhs, including the chairman of Block Development Council Khag (Budgam), Bhupinder Singh, and the government schoolteacher Supinder Kaur.

Some of the victims were non-local workers from UP and Bihar. Three were resident Hindus and two Dogra Hindus from Jammu were recruited as teachers from the Scheduled Castes and one Hindu bank manager from Rajasthan was killed today.