The recent surge in the incidents of targeted killing of Hindus in the valley has led to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits residing in transit camps. Hundreds of families, including many government employees, who returned to the valley after being given jobs under the Prime Minister’s special employment scheme for Kashmiri migrants, have quietly left the transit camps where they were housed.
According to rough estimates, more than 1400 Hindus have reached Jammu from Kashmir in the last 3 days alone. Reports suggest that 70 people only from the Mattan area of south Kashmir have reached Jammu. These fear-stricken Hindus are being compelled to believe the valley has returned to the state that existed in the 1990s.
In the 1990s, a planned exodus by Islamic terrorists was unleashed on the Kashmiri Hindu population of Kashmir. Hindus were raped, murdered and asked to either convert to Islam or leave Kashmir. Almost overnight, thousands of Kashmiri Hindus had fled the state to protect themselves from Islamic terrorism.
These Hindus have said that almost 250 government employees have fled Kashmir to reach Jammu on Thursday night alone.
According to a report by NDTV, around 400 families of Kashmiri Pandits had been living in Sheikhpora, but, it now bears a deserted look as all these families have left following the killing of several Hindus in the last week in the valley.
The authorities, meanwhile, are trying their best to instil confidence among the minority Kashmiri Pandit community in the valley. The Jammu and Kashmir administration made fervent appeals to the Hindus to not think about migrating. Relief Commissioner AK Pandita assured of “providing full security” and said all deputy commissioners have assured full security to their colonies.
The brutal killing of a teacher and principal, as well as other civilians, in the region recently has caused concern among minority groups that they will be the next target.
On October 7, in an extremely brutal attack, two teachers, a Hindu and a Sikh, were shot dead at point-blank range at the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Idgah, Sangam in Srinagar by Islamic terrorists in Kashmir. Pakistan based terror outfit ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF), which has claimed responsibility for the attack, has said that they killed the teachers because they had asked students to attend the 15th August function in the school. As per reports, the teachers present were segregated on basis of their religions and presumably Muslim teachers were allowed to go. The Hindu and Sikh teacher were dragged outside and shot at point-blank range.
This attack came in less than 48 hours after the killing of Makhan Lal Bindroo, the Kashmiri Pandit who stood his ground and refused to leave Kashmir even during the heights of Islamic terror in 1990s. Two other persons were also killed on the same day.