On Tuesday, around 10 Kashmiri Pandit families comprising 35 to 40 members left their residences in Choudharygund village of Shopian district in south Kashmir and shifted to Jammu after terrorists recently carried out several targeted killings in the area. The Kashmiri Pandits left their residences out of fear and settled in Jammu.
According to the reports, the current terrorist attacks have generated a fear psychosis among the Pandits who continued to stay in Kashmir after the most terrible time of terrorism in the 1990s. “Ten families comprising 35 to 40 Kashmiri Pandits have migrated out of our village due to the fear psychosis”, confirmed a resident of Choudharygund village. He also said that he was issued death threats by the terrorist and were forced to leave the place.
In another incident of targeted killing, terrorists recently assassinated Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishan Bhat outside his ancestral home in Choudharygund village, Shopian district, on October 15. Days after that, Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar were also murdered in a grenade assault by terrorists. The duo was killed while they were sleeping in their rented home in Shopian on October 18.
The terrified residents of Choudharygund village further stated that the village has now become empty as all the Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to move out of the locality. “The situation is not conducive for us to live in the Kashmir valley. We live in fear due to the killings. There is no security for us”, another villager said.
Reports further quoted the villagers alleging that they were not provided with any police protection. The villagers said that they had repeatedly sought protection but the police post was set up away from their village. The villagers had to leave everything in their houses back in the village, including their recent harvest of apple, and are now staying with their relatives in Jammu.