Jammu, June 3 (Agency)
Due to the increasing ‘target killing’ in Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits have started migrating. Many Kashmiri Pandits who got jobs in the Valley under the Prime Minister’s Employment Package have left the Valley and reached Jammu with their families. He said that there was an atmosphere of fear in the Valley due to the targeted killings by the terrorists. In the last few weeks, he spent the night in rented houses. After getting selected under the Prime Minister’s Employment Package, about 4 thousand displaced Kashmiri Pandits are working in various departments in the Valley. Dipankar Raina, an employee who returned from the valley, said that we have lost our colleague Rahul Bhat. After that we decided to leave for Jammu. He said that most of the personnel of the PM package were hesitant to stay there, but the government has sealed the transit camps with barbed wire and are not letting anyone go. Amit Kaul, another worker, said that he did not want to put his family’s life in danger. Jagnesh Kumar said that many people living in rented houses in Kupwara, Baramulla, Anantnag and Budgam have left for Jammu. A female employee, who came with her husband and child, said that every day since Bhat was murdered was a nightmare for their family.
deserted transit camp
Srinagar (Same Latif) : Transit camps of migrant Kashmiri Pandits looked deserted on Friday amid targeted killings in Kashmir. In fact, hundreds of employees, frightened by the continuous killings in the Valley, went to Jammu along with their families on Thursday night. About 400 migrant families used to live in the highly-secured Sheikhpura transit camp, but now only 30 families are left there. A similar scene was witnessed in transit camps in Anantnag, Kupwara and Baramulla, where about 50 per cent of the families have migrated. Avtar Bhat, a leader of Kashmiri Pandits, said that most of the workers living in rented houses have left the Valley and moved to Jammu. He said that out of 150 families, 105 have migrated here. Out of 600 families in Vesu Anantnag Camp, around 350 families have gone.
Shah reviews security situation
New Delhi (Agency) : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of selective killings in the Kashmir Valley. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief Manoj Pandey and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha participated in the meeting. A ministry official said the Home Minister reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the issue of security arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra also came up in the meeting. The meeting took place at a time when terrorists have selectively killed several people in the Valley, including non-Muslims, security personnel, an artist and local citizens, one after the other. In two separate incidents on Thursday, a bank worker and a brick kiln worker were killed in Kashmir, while another worker was injured. The killing of a bank worker and a laborer was a selective murder in Kashmir since May 1. On Tuesday, terrorists shot dead a teacher from Samba district of Jammu region in Kulgam.
