13 Kashmiri Pandit families urge admn to register them as migrants

PTI

Jammu, October 31

Thirteen Kashmiri Pandit families, who migrated from a village in South Kashmir amid targeted killings of members of their community, on Monday urged the administration to register them as migrants.

Of the 13 families comprising 43 members, 10 had left Choudharygund village in Shopian district and reached Jammu on October 26. The remaining three had reached the city earlier.

A few days ago, the Shopian administration had rubbished reports that stated some Hindu families had already reached Jammu.

“We have submitted a joint application to the office of the relief and rehabilitation commissioner in Jammu for registration of the 13 families as migrants in the wake of migration from the Valley to Jammu,” said VJ Kaul, a representative of the families.

Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists outside his ancestral house in Choudharygund village on October 15. Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian on October 18.

In the application, the families said they had migrated to Jammu following Bhat’s killing in broad daylight. “The incident of brutal killing compelled us to leave our native village to save our lives,” they said.

They said prior to Bhat’s killing, a government primary school was attacked but fortunately three teachers belonging to the minority community had a narrow escape. Even Hindu employees, posted in Kashmir, have been protesting in Jammu for months, demanding their transfer from the Valley in the wake of killings.

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