Killing of the famous chemist shop owner Makhan Lal Bindroo and a Bihar resident Virender Paswan by terrorists in Srinagar is being seen as an attempt of fundamentalists to scare the migrant Kashmiri Pandits from returning to the valley to claim their landed properties that have forcibly been occupied by miscreants.

Killing of Bindroo has triggered condemnation even by Kashmiri Muslim leaders and protests in Srinagar and Jammu.

Advertisement

The pattern of terrorists has been to engage in such heinous crime whenever efforts are made by the government to undo the ethnic cleansing done by fundamentalists and terrorists in 1990 and pave way for honourable return of the migrants to the valley. Yesterday’s targeted killing is seen as a step to create fear among the migrants living in Jammu and other places in the country.
Sitting MP and former chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was among those who visited Bindroo’s house on Wednesday to express their sympathy with the family.

Condemning the killings in unequivocal terms, Dr Farooq said “I’m extremely heartbroken to hear about the dastardly killing. The heart wrenching mindless violence has saddened me. Such barbarism should be denounced down rightly at all levels”.

As Bindroo’s family grieved, his daughter Smridhi presented a bold face before the sympathizers and said not shedding a single tear as my father would like that. He had raised his children to be brave and educated. She urged the people of Kashmir to educate their children to live a life rather than giving them a gun to kill people.

“My father lived fearlessly and refused to shut down his medicine store in Srinagar even in the worst of times. He lived and died like a warrior”, she said.

Today my father no more, still I have a smiling face. Because I know my father was a warrior. He was a winner. He is going like a warrior. I am not going to shed tears. That will be like a tribute to those gunmen, she said.

Bindroo remained in Kashmir even at the peak of terrorism in the 1990s when many Kashmiri Pandits migrated to Jammu and elsewhere.

The blood bath by terrorists has come within days of the administration claiming that the authorities in Srinagar have resolved as many as 660 grievances related to migrant properties. Of these 390 cases related to alienation by fraud or distress sale of property, deputy commissioner, Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad said.

Similarly, 129 grievances alleging encroachments on migrant properties were also verified and resolved. Out of grievances of encroachment, the necessary demarcation of 20 cases has been done and necessary eviction notices have also been issued, though 12 of them are sub-judice before the High Court. Cognizance has been taken and action being initiated against officials involved in tampering of Revenue records. While 18 cases of trespassing were also verified, out of which few were found lacking the exact details of the properties and the same have been sought for final resolution” the DC added.

Meanwhile, PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti came out heavily on the BJP government by tweeting; “With the recent spate of civilian killings in Kashmir, GOIs fake narrative of normalcy lies in tatters. An utterly desensitized govt that has devalued human lives & pushed J&K into further peril & chaos by its ruthless policies of collective punishment all in the garb of security”.

KK Khosa, president of the Jammu based Kashmiri Pandit Sabha accused the central and the union territory government of having “clearly failed in their duty to ensure safety and security of the minority community”. He described the killing by terrorists as an act aimed at creating scare among the minorities and vitiating the atmosphere.