There are no ‘safer locations’ for us in Valley, say Kashmiri Pandit employees

While Jammu & Kashmir administration has started posting Kashmiri Pandit employees to “safer zones” after recent targeted killings, the community members feel there is no place in the Valley that can be termed “safe.”

Over 4,000 migrant Kashmiri Pandits had returned to the Valley to take up government employment under a rehabilitation policy announced by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008. Similarly hundreds of Hindu employees from Jammu recruited under the 'Schedule Caste' quota are posted in the Valley.

The members from the two communities posted in Kashmir are now demanding to be relocated to Jammu in the wake of the targeted killings of minorities in the Valley. However, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered that PM package employees and other members from minority communities in Kashmir be posted at secured locations within the valley.

Chetna Kaul, a teacher, however, feels there is no place in Kashmir that can be termed “safe.”

Read | Targeted killings bring back memories of 90s insurgency for Kashmiri Pandit

“We are being called by officials and asked ‘which safer location do you want to be posted.’ (But) the reality is that there are no safe locations in Kashmir. When terrorists can kill someone inside a tehsil office or a bank you can yourself imagine what the situation is,” she said.

“First we have to save our lives, then we will think about jobs. If I am in the office, I have to keep looking at the gate as anybody entering could be a suspect. How can I work in such an atmosphere?” Kaul asked.

Besides, the families whose children are enrolled in local schools have either applied for discharge certificates or are seeking transfer to other branches of the schools outside the Valley.

“Even if we are posted in relatively safer locations, how will we send our children to schools? If we have to go to a hospital, who will secure us? The situation is much worse than in the 1990s, as the administration is unable to protect us,” said Sanjay, a Kashmiri Pandit.

“The administration has no control on the ground. Leave alone the attackers, they can't even trace the threat letters issued against us by the militants,” he rued.

The situation has also forced the Pandit community to rethink their elaborate plans of prayers and celebrations on the annual Zeshta Ashtami festival known as Kheer Bhawani mela that would be held at Kheer Bhawani temple at Tulmulla in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on June 8.