‘Time to leave’: Fear, anxiety in Kashmiri Pandit camps
After the string of killings targeting minorities and outsiders, many say they are actively exploring options outside the Valley.
4 min read
People from the Kashmiri Pandit community shout slogans during their protest march against the killing of the school teacher Rajni Bala, near Srinagar Airport in June. (PTI, file)After days of protests over what they say is the administration’s “failure” to protect them from targeted attacks, Kashmiri Pandits employed in the valley under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package decided on Thursday to call off their agitation, expressing frustration over official “inaction”.
The Indian Express spoke to several Kashmiri Pandits employed with the administration and housed in the two main secured camps, at Sheikhpora in Budgam and Haal in Pulwama. What is palpable is the gathering sense of despair and anxiety. After the string of killings targeting minorities and outsiders, many say they are actively exploring options outside the Valley.
“We are all moving back to Jammu,” said Amit Koul, 40, a government employee at the forefront of the recent protests, and a resident of the Sheikhpora camp. “I have already left the camp with five of my colleagues,” he said.
Koul said that since Rahul Bhat, an employee working under the PM’s package in the Revenue department, was killed inside his office in Chadoora, Budgam on May 12, they had been urging the government that they be transferred to Jammu.
On Thursday, camp residents removed the protest tent from the gates — in a sign that, some of them admitted, showed lack of any progress. “There is some resistance from local authorities. They even tried to shut the gates in the morning. Some families have already left but they are doing so discreetly so that they are not stopped,” said Ashwini Pandita, a resident of the Sheikhpora camp.
Another Kashmiri Pandit employee, who has already left for Jammu, said that “in Kashmir, there is no place safe for minorities now”.
At the Haal camp in South Kashmir, about 45 families remain confined to their premises and several of them said that they are ready to move. “We are all consulting each other on when we could leave. The consensus among all employees is that we have to leave. We cannot continue to risk our lives,” said Arvind Pandita, a resident of the Haal camp.
Asked whether they would consider a temporary move, he said: “It does not seem like things are getting better so we will move with our children and all belongings.”
In March 2021, in a written reply to a question in Parliament, the Ministry of Home Affairs had stated that out of 6,000 sanctioned posts, nearly 3,800 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir over the past few years to take up government jobs under the PM package. After the abrogation of Article 370, 520 migrant candidates returned to Kashmir to take up such jobs, it said.
Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, K Pandurang Pole, could not be reached for comment.
On May 18, Pole instructed the heads of various government departments to ensure that employees from the Kashmiri Pandit community are not posted in “vulnerable areas” but given postings in district headquarters.
On May 23, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited the Sheikhpora camp, where Rahul Bhat’s family was staying at the time, and assured residents that their concerns would be addressed. The administration also appointed nodal officers to address “grievances of employees — PM package/ migrant/ SC/ ST/ Rajput and others” in Kulgam, Budgam and Anantnag districts.
But the Kashmiri Pandit employees remained unconvinced and had declined to return to work.
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