Kashmiri Pandit shot dead by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian

In yet another targeted killing, a Kashmiri Pandit farmer was shot dead by militants in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday.

Puran Krishan Bhat, who had gone to Shopian from Jammu on Thursday, to join his brother to attend their apple orchard was attacked near his residence in the Chowdhary Gund village, reports said. Doctors declared him dead after he was shifted to a Shopian hospital.

Confirming the incident Kashmir Zone Police tweeted: “Terrorists fired upon a civilian (minority) Shri Puran Krishan Bhat while he was on way to orchard in Chowdari Gund Shopian. He was immediately shifted to hospital for treatment where he succumbed. Area cordoned off. Search in progress (sic).”

Deputy inspector general of police, Central Kashmir, Sujit Kashmir said that initial investigation suggested one terrorist was behind the attack, the responsibility for which was claimed by lesser known terror outfit Kashmir Freedom Fighter (KFF), an offshoot of the Al-Badr outfit.

Bhat had reportedly shifted his wife and two children - a son studying in Class 5 and a daughter who is in Class 7 - to Jammu in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, otherwise all of them were living in Shopian, said one of his relatives.

Later in the evening while talking to reporters, Kumar, who is also in-charge of South Kashmir Range, said If any lapse is found on part of the security guards or officials in charge of the area, action will be taken against the concerned persons.

The attack - the latest in a grisly sequence of targeted killings - has created a sense of fear among the minority community members in the Valley. Since last October militants have stepped up attacks on migrant labourers and non-locals in Kashmir.

The latest incident occurred barely a month after another Pandit farmer was shot dead while his brother was injured when militants opened fire upon them in Chotigam village of the same district on August 16.

After August targeted killing, Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), an organisation that represents the Pandits living in the Valley, had said that “no member of the community was safe in Kashmir.”

“For Kashmiri Pandits, only one option is left – leave Kashmir or get killed by religiously fanatic minds, who have support from the local population,” the KPSS president had said.

In May this year, the killing of a Pandit employee – Rahul Bhat – at a government office in Budgam sparked widespread protests by the community. Since then, over 5,000 Kashmiri Pandit employees are not attending their duties, fearing targeted attacks.

Bhat had received a government job under the Prime Minister’s package for the KP community that was forced to flee the Valley when insurgency erupted in 1990.