Local Muslims held protests and in tons of joined the household of slain Kashmir Pandit Sanjay Sharma for the final rites in Pulwama’s Achan space on February 27, however the focused killing has additional shattered the boldness of the miniscule inhabitants of those Pandits who most well-liked to remain back regardless of raging militancy in the 1990s in the Kashmir valley.
Putting her arms repeatedly across the three minor orphans — Sakshi, Diksha and Aryan — Sharma’s spouse, in her late 30s, continues to be grappling to return to phrases with what unfolded earlier than her eyes on Sunday morning in a village, which housed her humble residence for a lot of many years now.
“I do not want to live here anymore. My husband was shot four times in front of me on the road (in Achan). No one came forward. I supported him, with blood dripping, and reached the nearby hospital only to bring his body home. These three minor orphans are testimony to the tragedy these attackers left behind. They snatched my husband at the prime age for none of his fault. What will happen to the kids now?” deceased Sharma’s spouse mentioned.
Sanjay Sharma, 42, a financial institution guard by occupation, was shot lifeless close to his native village in Pulwama on Sunday morning by militants. He turned the second such sufferer in the realm in the previous 30 years. The final killing of a Kashmiri Pandit, Janki Nath, came about by the hands of militants in 1990, on the peak of militancy. However, the household of Sharma took a daring choice to remain back, in contrast to tons of of Kashmiri Pandit households who left for different elements of the nation.
Despite raging militancy in Pulwama between 2010 and 2018, Kashmiri Pandits by no means felt scared. However, the dynamic is quick altering for the neighborhood after the revocation of particular provisions of Article 370 in 2019. According to official figures, 29 civilians have been killed in 2022, which included three native Pandits, three Hindus and eight non-local labourers. The killing of Pandits resulted in mass migration of greater than 5,500 Pandit workers from the Kashmir Valley.
With simply 4 Pandit households left behind in Pulwama’s Achan, scores of native Muslims, principally neighbours, on Monday organized for the final rites of Sharma. “On the recent ‘Herath’ festival [Maha Shivrarti], he [Sharma] shared wet walnuts with his Muslim neighbours, as was the tradition among Kashmiri Pandits. They are like our brothers,” Maqbool Ahmad, an area, mentioned.
Scores of locals held a candlelight vigil in Pulwama’s Shaheedi Chowk to protest in opposition to the killing. Similar protests have been additionally held in Ganderbal and Baramulla districts of the Valley.
Sanjay Okay. Tickoo, president of the Kashmiri Pandits Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), a physique of round 800 Pandit households who stayed back in Kashmir in the 1990s, nevertheless, sees these assaults as the tipping level for the neighborhood. “Raliv, Galiv Ya Chaliv (convert, die or leave), a modus-operandi initiated by the radical Kashmiris to establish Islamic doctrine in Kashmir continues and is reverberated by every Kashmiri Pandit killing. Since 1990, the dark times for Kashmiri Pandits continue. Islamic countries and scholars repeatedly claim that terror doesn’t have a religion, but they need to see in Kashmir that here it not only has a religion but a face too,” Mr. Tickoo mentioned.
He blamed just a few militants for these killings in Kashmir. “In a proxy war between India and Pakistan in which Muslim Kashmir is fighting against Hindu India, the innocent religious minorities living in Kashmir are scapegoats for Pakistan and Muslim Kashmir, while Hindu India is concerned about elections and political strategies,” Mr. Tickoo mentioned.
He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to intervene and “accept the failure of the current Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha”.
“Non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits have become fodder for the government, terrorists and migrant Kashmiri Pandits, who are living luxurious lives outside the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Tickoo mentioned, whereas asking the Centre to “consider this challenge and stop experimenting with the situation in Kashmir and endangering the lives of Kashmiri Pandits.”
All J&Okay political events, together with Hurriyat headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, have condemned the killing. “Kashmiri Muslims are ashamed of Pandit Sanjay Sharma’s killing. We safeguarded the ethos of brotherhood and communal harmony when the entire country indulged in Hindu-Muslim riots in 1947. Kashmiri Pandits are an asset of Kashmir. Kashmiri Muslims need to take every possible measure to provide a sense of security to the minority community and save them from assailants,” Ms. Mufti mentioned, after assembly the sufferer’s household.
She mentioned folks of Kashmir are caught “in between two guns”. “On one hand, the government atrocities in the name of curbing militancy are unabated. Detention and raids are a continuous process. ED, NIA and other agencies are seizing properties of Kashmiris,” Ms. Muti added.
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who’s beneath home arrest, additionally condemned the killing and termed it “a gruesome act”.
“Killing of human beings in such a manner is a tragedy that Kashmir has been witnessing for the past three and a half decades now, with no seeming end in near future. The State policy of extreme repression and unilateral interventions countered by equally extreme and viscous vengeance is a vortex we have got caught into, leading to extreme suffering of Kashmiris of all hues,” the Mirwaiz mentioned.
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He mentioned Kashmiri pandits residing in Kashmir sadly have develop into sitting geese in the present state of affairs. “The prevailing coercive atmosphere, with no space for outreach, the contact among communities and people is also fast disappearing ,” the Mirwaiz added.
BJP State president Ravinder Raina, who additionally visited the household in Pulwama, mentioned, “Pakistan’s coward terrorists have murdered humanity. Killing an innocent is no bravery. Sharma was living for over 50 years in the village with the locals. People of Kashmir have also condemned the brutal killing. All Muslims of Pulwama’s Achan are with the Sharma family. They have not even cooked for the past two days.” He mentioned the safety forces will make these attackers pay quickly.
