Journalism of Courage
IN A fresh attack targeting Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, suspected militants on Saturday gunned down a 48-year-old man who owned an apple orchard in J&K’s Shopian district, the police said.
The victim, identified as Puran Krishan Bhat, was critically injured in the firing and rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to bullet injuries, the police said.
“Terrorists fired upon a civilian (minority) Shri Puran Krishan Bhat while he was on way to orchard in Chowdari Gund Shopian. He was immediately shifted to hospital for treatment where he succumbed. Area cordoned off. Search in progress,” J&K Police said in a tweet about the incident.
Bhat’s neighbours said he was shot outside his home in the village, which is a few hundred metres from an Army camp. “He had just come out of his house when he was shot at. He was at the gate…This is the first such killing in the village and we are terrified,” one of the neighbours, Jawahar Lal, told The Sunday Express.
DIG Sujit Kumar told reporters that initial investigations suggest only one militant was involved — and that a proxy militant outfit, Kashmir Freedom Fighters, was behind the attack.
In an unverified social media post, the little-known outfit took responsibility for the killing and claimed it had “already warned about our attacks” on Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers while criticising the Centre’s Kashmir policies. It also warned of further attacks.
Even as the incident triggered protests, political parties in Kashmir condemned the killing with NC leader Omar Abdullah describing it as “reprehensible” and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti accusing the BJP-led Centre of having “failed to safeguard Kashmiri Pandits”.
Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta expressed concern over the incident and said the killers “will be eliminated very soon”.
J-K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha condemned the attack. “Attack on Puran Krishan Bhat by terrorists in Shopian is a dastardly act of cowardice. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. I assure the people that the perpetrators and those aiding and abetting terrorists will be severely punished,” Sinha tweeted.
The Valley started witnessing a new wave of attacks mainly targeting migrant workers after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Militants started targeting Kashmiri Pandits from last year with the killing of prominent businessman M L Bindroo who was shot at his medical store in Srinagar in October.
Since then, Puran Bhat is the fourth Kashmiri Pandit to be killed. On May 12 this year, militants shot Rahul Bhat inside the revenue office where he worked in Budgam. On August 18, militants killed Sunil Kumar and injured Paitamber Kumar inside an orchard in Chotipora village of Shopian.
The killing of Rahul Bhat, who was appointed under the Prime Minister’s Relief and Rehabilitation Package for Kashmiri Pandits, triggered largescale protests from employees under the scheme who demanded a transfer to Jammu. The attacks also prompted the administration to shift several of these employees to relatively safer locations.
On Saturday, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS), an organisation of community members who didn’t leave the Valley during the peak of militancy, accused the Army, police and district administration of trying to force them to conduct the late rites of Bhat “in haste”.
“His wife, children and sister are in Jammu. How could we perform his last rites in their absence? His older brother refused to listen to them (officials),” said Trilok Chand, one of Bhat’s neighbours.
Bhat’s relatives later said the body was being taken to Jammu. Bhat is survived by his wife Sweety (41) and two children — a daughter studying in Class 7 and a son in Class 5. They had moved to Muthi Gaon, a village on the outskirts of Jammu, around two years ago during the pandemic.
Located inside dense orchards, Chowdhary Gund village in Shopian is home to around a dozen Kashmiri Pandit families who didn’t leave when militancy erupted in 1989. “All these years, the Hindu and Muslim neighbours in the village have lived together peacefully,” Chand said.
Taking to Twitter, the KPSS referred to one of its tweets last week and wrote that “nothing has changed on ground zero”. The organisation also described the attack as “a message” for Union Home Minister Amit Shah who had visited the Valley this month.
On October 13, KPSS had tweeted an “open message” to militant groups, asking them to stop “slow poisoning” Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley and “fix a day and kill all KPs at one go so that your masters, whosoever they are, will be happy”.
Condemning Saturday’s attack, PDP president Mehbooba said, “He (Bhat) decided not to leave Kashmir, he decided he will live and die with the Muslims here, and today…he has been targeted even when there is so much security.”
She said, “The Home Minister came here, he didn’t have time to listen to Kashmiri Pandits who are protesting in Jammu from the last six months, and find a solution to their problems.” She also issued an appeal to “imams and preachers to make people understand” that they should “live together peacefully”.
BJP’s Gupta said, “The security forces are doing a commendable job and have almost wiped out militancy, but such incidents at the fag end of militancy are a matter of concern for everyone.”
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: “Another reprehensible attack. I unequivocally condemn this attack in which Pooran Krishan Bhat has lost his life. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family…”
Separatist group Hurriyat Conference said in a statement: “Every single life lost in this manner is very painful and sad.”
(With Arun Sharma/Jammu)
