(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
Kashmir Pandits protest against the killing of Rahul Bhatt | KO File Photo By Abid Bhat
Srinagar- The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) on Thursday appealed to majority community members in Kashmir Valley to restore confidence among all the minorities living in the valley.
KPSS is a body of Kashmiri Pandits, who did not migrate from the Kashmir Valley during the 1990s, when the militancy broke-out. The body in a tweet appealed to the Masjid communities to reach out to the minorities and restore the confidence through the public systems.
“APPEAL TO ALL MASJID COMMUNITIES ACROSS KASHMIR VALLEY TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE AMONG ALL MINORITIES IN THE VALLEY through PUBLIC SYSTEMS,” the body posted.
It may be noted, the KPs and migrant workers faced a series of attacks in the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370. Four Kashmiri pandits have been killed by the suspected militants since 5 August 2019.
The latest round of killing took place in May this year, when militants shot dead KP clerk Rahul Bhat, inside his office in Chadoora town of central Kashmir's Budgam district.
Bhat was given his job under the Prime Minister's special employment package for migrants, announced in 2011 by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as part of a long-term rehabilitation plan for KPs who left the Valley in the early 1990s.
Bhat's killing sparked large scale protests by Pandit government employees in the Kashmir Valley. They blocked roads and highways in Srinagar and other parts demanding relocation to safer places outside the Valley, a demand that the government refused to accept.
Earlier, the suspected militants shot dead a prominent KP pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindroo at his shop in Srinagar on 5 October 2021. Before him, Ajay Pandita alias Bharti, a 40-year-old Kashmiri Pandit sarpanch was shot dead by militants on 8 June 2020.
A year later, on 2 June 2021, another KP Rakesh Pandita, was shot dead by militants in south Kashmir's Tral town.
Following the targeted killings KPSS, approached the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court to pass an order to protect the lives of the religious minorities in the Valley.
On Thursday, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh initiated a case based on the letter petition filed by the KPSS.
A bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Javed Iqbal Wani heard the matter on June 27, 2022 and adjourned it to July 4, 2022 on the request of the petitioner.
“Mr Gowhar Jan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner on being put certain questions, seeks time to look into the matter once again,” the Court said in the order, a copy of which lies with Kashmir Observer.
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