Jammu & Kashmir Police, on Friday, had to resort to lathicharge and firing smoke shells to prevent Kashmir pandits from marching towards Srinagar international airport in protest against J&K LG Manoj Sinha, for not visiting the house of Rahul Bhat, a Kashmir pandit who was shot dead by militants in his office at Budgam yesterday.
Bhat was attacked at the tehsil office in Chadoora. He was rushed to the hospital but he succumbed to injuries. The killing evoked widespread condemnation from politicians and members of the civil society. Bhat lived in Sheikhpora colony, which houses migrants.
Soon after his killing, migrant Kashmiri pandits working in government institutions, staged protests at several places. Some of them blocked the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Anantnag.
The protesters demanded that the LG assure them of security and ensure that the culprits involved in the killings are punished. The protesters started the march after Sinha did not show up till 11am.
The protesters were also heard shouting “DC Budgam hai, hai; kaatil ko pesh karo (Down with DC Budgam; bring forth the killer)”. Stone pelting, too, was reported. But the police brought the situation under control quickly.
BJP state president Ravinder Raina today visited Sheikhpora to condole with the colony residents over the killing of Bhat. Angry residents mobbed him and asked him if the BJP, too, had failed to protect the lives of Kashmiri pandits. Some members asked Raina to ensure their return to Jammu because of the threat in Kashmir.
Others said the government should stop using Kashmiri pandits as bali ka bakra (sacrificial lamb).
Raina told the gathering that the government will ensure their security and the perpetrators involved in the incident will be punished. “Our security forces have traced and killed all such Pakistan-sponsored militants in the past and they will do it again,” he said. “We will not spare them.”
Meanwhile, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has appealed to Imams to urge people to maintain brotherhood with people of different faiths, in their Friday sermons. She said the people should ensure safety of minorities like they did in 1947. She said, at a time when the Union government is trying to pit Muslims and Hindus against each other to hide its failure, Jammu and Kashmir is the only place where people of different faiths are still living peacefully.
“The way people of Kashmir protected the lives of the minorities in 1947... the same spirit should be shown again by the majority towards minorities in Kashmir, so that brotherhood is maintained,” she said.
