The brutality perpetrated on Kashmiri Pandits has been a matter of high concern in the Jammu and Kashmir valley. Despite the numerous efforts carried by the government of India, the cases of such crimes have witnessed an increase. On Saturday, the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian area, brutally murdered a Kashmiri Pandit. Reportdely, they opened fire on the victim, a Kashmiri Pandit named Puran Krishan Bhat, as he made his way to the orchard at Choudhary Gund in Shopian. However, Bhat was sent to a hospital immediately for treatment but unfortunately, he did not survive.
Furtermore, the Pandit community in Jammu and Kashmir was filled with rage and sorrow, during Puran Krishan Bhat cremation in Jammu. Even though many were obviously upset and a few murmurings of discontent towards the government, there were no protests by members of the Kashmiri Pandit community throughout the funeral, except from a few slogans raised against Pakistan and Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Pandurang Pole.
Reportdely, since the repeal of Article 370 in 2019 in the Valley, a new wave of attacks began, with migrant workers and Kashmiri Pandits as their primary target. Moreover, after famous businessman M. L. Bindroo was shot dead at his medical store in Srinagar in October 2021, militants began targeting the Kashmiri Pandits. As per the information, late Puran Bhat is the fourth Kashmiri Pandit to have died since then. Similarly, Rahul Bhat was shot by militants on May 12 inside the Budgam revenue office where he used to work. Likewise, on August 18, militants attacked a Shopian orchard, where they brutally murdered Sunil Kumar and wounded Paitamber Kumar.
Following the assassination of a school teacher Rajni Bala in May, even non-Kashmiri Pandit Hindus from Jammu who had been employed in Kashmir through regular State Services Recruiting Board recruitment drives have returned to Jammu, being in a state of fear. Since then, they have also been on “dharna” in Jammu demanding relocatin. Moreover, such attacks are a serious matter of concern today. The Kashmiri Pandits as well as the other Hindu communities living in the Jammu and Kashmir valley are all-time scared due to such gruesome incidents carried out by the terrorists.
