A Kashmiri Pandit, who was a bank guard by profession, was shot dead by militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama on Sunday, sparking protests from local political parties. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that security forces were being given a free hand to deal with the case.
The incident took place around 10:30 a.m. when the victim, Sanjay Sharma, son of Kashinath Sharma, a resident of Achan, Pulwama, was on the way to a local market to buy groceries. The victim was working as a bank guard in the district.
“Unidentified gunmen carried out the well-planned attack in the morning. Preliminary information is being sifted and the terrorists involved will be tracked down and neutralised soon. We will not allow their ill-designs to succeed,” Rayees Mohammad Bhat, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the South Kashmir range, said.
The police said that the area where Mr. Sharma and his family lived had an armed guard. The circumstances under which the Kashmir Pandit victim came under attack are being investigated to take a call on further strengthening the security apparatus in the area, Mr. Bhat said.
Targeted attack
A little-known outfit named the Kashmir Freedom Fighters (KFF) has claimed responsibility for the attack. “After removal of Article 370, these [Pandits] are nothing but pawns of occupation to further settler colonialism agenda,” a KFF claim made online reads.
A pall of gloom has descended on the three-storey Sharma home in Pulwama, where local residents joined the family to condemn the killing. “I have grown up with Sharma. He was my childhood friend. Bloodshed of innocents must stop to save Islam and Kashmiriyat. These acts of terrorism must end,” said Mr. Sharma’s neighbour, who led a street protest but did not want to be named.
The victim’s inconsolable wife said that her husband was innocent and had never harmed anyone in his life. His family had chosen to stay back in Kashmir even when most Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley in the 1990s.
‘Killed like dogs’
The Sunday attack came just two days after a civilian, who is the brother of a slain policeman, was shot at and injured in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district by unknown militants.
“The government and the BJP cannot handle 75 lakh Kashmiri population and want to control POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and Balochistan. Kashmiri Pandits are killed like dogs in Kashmir. Union Home Minister and J&K L-G censor the information that Kashmir is the most dangerous place for Kashmiri Pandits in this world,” Sanjay Tickoo, head of the Kashmir Pandits Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), said. The KPSS is a body of Pandits who did not leave the Valley in the 1990s when militancy raged here.
According to official figures, 29 civilians were killed in the Kashmir Valley in 2022, which included three local Pandits, three Hindus and eight non-local labourers. The killing of Pandits resulted in the mass migration of over 5,500 Pandit employees from the Kashmir Valley.
Universal condemnation
J&K L-G Manoj Sinha, who condemned the “dastardly terror attack”, said, “The administration has given a free hand to the security forces to deal with the terrorists and we will continue to combat such acts of terrorism firmly and decisively.”
National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said that he unequivocally condemned this attack.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said that the vicious cycle of killings just didn’t seem to end. “The GOI [Government of India] has failed to protect minorities in J&K and reduced them to sitting ducks. Everyone here is paying a heavy price for this facade of normalcy,” Ms. Mufti said.
“I wonder what these thugs will achieve. Killing innocents who chose to stay back or come back suits only the worst enemies of Kashmiris,” Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone said.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M.Y. Tarigami said, “Condemning in no uncertain terms the killing of Sanjay Pandith in Pulwama. The unfortunate incident has again raised the specter of last year’s despicable targeted killings in the Valley.“
