Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday asked the Union government to ensure the safety of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir.
His comments came after suspected militants barged into a government office in Budgam district on May 12 and shot dead Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit. The police said that Bhat worked as a revenue department official at the tehsil office in Chadoora town. A massive protest has erupted in the Valley after Bhat’s killing.
On Friday, the police fired tear gas and baton-charged protestors, who had participated in a march from a migrant colony in Budgam’s Sheikhpora to the Srinagar International Airport.
“A few days ago in Kashmir, a government employee, Rahul Bhat, was killed,” Kejriwal said at an online press briefing. “Some terrorists went into his [Bhat’s] office, asked his name and shot him. It seems that they had made up their mind that they will target a Kashmiri Pandit.”
Kejriwal said that the Indian Army killed two militants within a day but the whole country is worried that Kashmir Pandits are not safe in the Valley.
The Delhi chief minister noted that those protesting against Bhat’s killing were baton-charged and the gates of the migrant colony were locked down. Kejriwal demanded that the officers who assaulted the protestors should be terminated from service.
“This is not a political but a national matter,” he said. “Kashmir Pandits want security. They don’t feel safe there [in the Valley]. If the Pandits living in Kashmir are not given protection, how will the Kashmiri Pandits living in other areas return. It is my request to the central government to take all the steps needed to provide security for rehabilitating Kashmiri Pandits.”
The chief minister added that everyone needs to work together to help Kashmiri Pandits return to the Valley.
A day after Bhat was killed, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had announced that it has formed a special investigation team to look into the murder. On Sunday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ordered an inquiry into the use of force against Kashmiri Pandits.
On May 24, Kejriwal had criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for promoting The Kashmir Files. The movie, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the erstwhile state in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to militancy. It was released on March 11.
“If after eight years, a prime minister has to take shelter at the feet of filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, then he has done no work during his tenure,” Kejriwal had said in the Delhi Assembly.
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