The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), on Saturday, sought an appointment with Jammu and Kashmir Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha to raise the issue of safety and security of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
Briefing media persons after a meeting of PAGD at the Gupkar residence of Dr. Farooq Abdullah, group’s spokesperson Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the killing of Kashmiri Pandit government employee Rahul Bhat in Budgam has shaken the confidence of the Kashmiri society.
He said the amalgam has decided to meet LG Sinha and take up the issue with him. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti was among those who participated in the meeting that was presided by Dr. Farooq Abdullah.
Bhat, who had got the job of a clerk under the special employment package for migrants in 2010-11, was gunned down by terrorists inside the tehsil office in Chadoora town of Budgam on Thursday.
“A delegation of Kashmiri Pandits met us and we told them that as far as we and the people are concerned, this painful story has now become a routine of the day here, but Rahul’s killing has shaken us,” Tarigami, who is also a senior leader of the CPI(M), said.
Tarigami said the killing has troubled the whole society and the people of Kashmir are with their pandit brethren in this time of grief.
He said using force against protesting Kashmiri Pandits on Friday was extremely unfortunate.
“PAGD appealed people that it is our tradition in Kashmir that even when the whole sub-continent was burning in 1947, Kashmir was the only place where no one faced any difficulty. It is our misfortune that Kashmir has become a troubled place for the people living here,” he said.
The PAGD appealed to everyone to keep Kashmir’s traditions of brotherhood alive as “our” security lies with each other and whatever can be done from our side, we will surely do it. But the responsibility lies with the government. They have created a narrative that there is normalcy in Kashmir even if ten people are killed,” Tarigami said.
Meanwhile, Kashmiri Pandits continued to protest at various places across the UT. A large number of Kashmiri Pandit employees sat in protest at the tehsildar office in Chadoora where Rahul Bhat was shot dead by terrorists.
The Congress and PDP staged separate protests in Jammu against targeted killings in Kashmir and failure of the government to protect the minorities.