While the Shopian district administration has claimed that there had been no exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the district, the members of the Hindu community, who have migrated to Jammu, have rejected the claim and resolved to never return to the valley.

Ashwani Kumar Bhat, whose brother Puran Krishan Bhat was shot dead by Islamists on October 16, told reporters in Jammu that he has migrated and will never go back to the valley. “We have migrated from there. I will never return. I swear by my children, I will not return till the last breath of my life”, Bhat said.

Pointing towards his children, he said neither he will return to Kashmir nor allow his children to go there.

“I have one hundred canals (five hectares) of land there but I will never go back. Will I go there to die?” he asked.

Bhat, who saw his brother dying in front of his eyes, said he will quit his government job but will not go back. “I do not need anything”, he further said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the Shopian authorities had claimed that reports of Hindus leaving the valley is “baseless”. 

“The claim made by the news agency (PTI) regarding leaving of Kashmiri non migrant Hindu population is ‘baseless’. ‘Proper and robust security’ arrangements have been kept in place by the administration in the village. Even at other pockets of Kashmiri non-migrant Hindu habitations and villages, similar security arrangements are in place,” the Information and Public Relations department of Shopian had said in a tweet.

On the administration’s claim of “proper and robust security arrangement”, Bhat said, “when killing of Sunil Kumar took place in Chatigam, we went to the SP of Shopian – who is a woman and Major Sahib (of the nearby army camp). We urged them to keep visiting our village – one time a day. Nobody helped us– nobody came here. We have not seen police guards -they themselves live in fear”.

He further said, “If they are issuing statements about guards, we should have seen them”. “We even do not know whether they have come for our security. They never came out”, he added.

The nephew of the deceased said while authorities were making claims that adequate security arrangements had been made for the Hindus, the situation was totally different on the ground.

“The police personnel posted on security duty always sat inside (their picket). Had they been outside, they would have been able to see the people. Ask anyone — ask Kashmiri Muslims, ask Hindus living there — if they had seen them (cops)?” he said.

Islamists had killed Puran Krishan Bhat in the Choudharygund area of the Shopian district at a place with a minority police picket at 20 meters and an army camp nearby.

Another Choudharygund resident, who wished to remain unnamed, said that he has left the harvested apples in the compound of his house as life is precious.

“God saved me as they wanted to hit me too. They had come back to my school a few days ago, but I was not there”, he stated.

Another Hindu woman, who moved to Jammu, claimed they were constantly living in fear. 

Ten Kashmiri Hindu families have fled their village n the Shopian district and landed in Jammu out of fear as Islamists have recently killed several Hindus.

“Ten families comprising 35 to 40 Kashmiri Pandits have migrated out of our village due to the fear psychosis,” a resident of Choudharygund village who faced a death threat recently told PTI.