Rahul Bhat killing: PAGD asks Kashmiri Pandit employees not to leave valley, BJP demands secure accommodations

After the recent killing of a Kashmir Pandit employee, the community members hit the streets in protest accusing the government of failing to provide them security.

Srinagar: The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an umbrella outfit of mainstream J&K parties on Sunday asked the Kashmiri Pandit employees not to leave the valley after the recent killing of their fellow community member and asked the administration to transfer the employees to safer places. The J&K BJP also demanded a secure accommodation for the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley after the killing of Rahul Bhat, a Revenue Department employee who was shot dead by militants on Thursday (May 12) at Tehsil Office Chadoora.

After the killing, the Kashmiri Pandits hit the streets in protest accusing the government of failing to provide them security even as the Pandit employees recruited under the PM rehabilitation scheme threatened to resign en masse. They also demanded that they be transferred outside the valley. However, PAGD spokesperson Yousuf Tarigami while talking to the reporters after the amalgam's meeting with Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha in Srinagar said the Kashmiri pandit employees "should not leave the valley as it was their home as much as it was of the Kashmiri Muslims".

“We appeal to them that this place is yours as well as ours. Do not leave your home. It is very painful for you as well as us,” Tarigami said. He said if Kashmiri pandits want to leave Kashmir in the wake of Bhat’s killing, “then what about the families of Kashmiri Muslims who are also killed”. "If Rahul was killed, Riyaz (a policeman) was also killed. Where will Riyaz’s family and relatives go? You (Kashmiri pandits) do not have to leave your home. This is your home, this is my home. We will bear this tragedy together and try to safeguard each other,” he said.

The CPI(M) leader said the alliance raised the issue of the transfer of the employees to safer places. However, there is no possibility of their transfer outside Kashmir, he said. Besides Tarigami, PAGD president Farooq Abdullah also met L-G Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan along with PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, Awami National Conference leader Muzaffar Shah and NC MP Hasnain Masoodi.

Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP leaders led by BJP’s state president Ravinder Raina also met the L-G over the issue. Raina said they raised the “issue of the targeted killings of minority communities, and labourers from UP, Bihar, with the L-G”. “These are the evil designs of Pakistan to wound Kashmir. These killings are a matter of grave concern,” Raina told reporters after the meeting outside Raj Bhavan.

He said they requested the L-G that there is a “need to look into the issues of the Kashmiri Pandit employees under PM package, and other such employees and to have their postings in secure area in district and tehsil headquarters”. He said that they demanded that a nodal officer be nominated in the Raj Bhavan to coordinate with the KP employees to address their grievances.

“We put forth our concerns on the issues of rehabilitation policy as well as their accommodation before the LG and requested him to visit these camps immediately to boost the confidence of all the employees, and take some confidence-building measures,” Raina said. The BJP leader said Pakistan has “always shed the blood of Kashmiris.

“We are pained by these killings. Pakistan is the murderer of Kashmiris. Pakistan is against everyone in Kashmir and Jammu be it Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or a Christian,” he added.