Amid the continuous targeted attacks on Hindus by Islamists in the valley, the Kashmiri Pandit Sabha (KPS) on November 12 declared to intensify its agitation if the government did not stop threatening to withhold the salaries of Kashmiri Pandit employees and forcing them to go back to the valley, where they are under mortal threat from Islamists.

Kashmiri Pandit groups continued their months-long protest against the government over the targeted attacks on the Hindus and demanded the constitution of a committee under Union Home Minister Amit Shah to formulate and implement their rehabilitation.

The protesting Hindus carried placards that read “we are refugees in our own country”, “Struggle for existence continues”, “I am a Kashmiri Pandit, I love my Identity” and “Kashmiri Pandit soul in exile” as they pressed for their demands.

The agitation of Kashmiri Pandit employees, who were posted in the valley under the PM employment package, entered its 182nd day on Saturday.

The protesting Hindus said it’s high time the Central government brings back the entire Kashmiri Hindu community living as refugees in various parts of the country back to the valley and rehabilitate them with security, honour, and dignity.

“It is the right time for the central government to announce a comprehensive package for return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley,” Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj president R K Bhat said.

He said that the entire community should be rehabilitated back to the valley along with the employees under a return and rehabilitation plan, and not just the employees alone.

“We demand the setting up of an apex committee headed by the Union Home Minister for the formulation of a comprehensive road map on how Kashmiri Pandits will return and be rehabilitated back in the valley,” Bhat said. He said it will be a true tribute to the Kashmiri Pandit martyrs. 

The protesting Pandits also slammed the current and previous governments for their failure to recruit 6,000 Kashmiri Pandits, as envisaged under the PM special employment back over the years.

Bhat also said that the government should enhance the package to employ 15,000 Kashmiri youths.

He also stated that the rehabilitation package for Kashmiri Pandits announced by the Centre a few years ago was an eyewash. “We urge the government to restructure, redesign, and revise this package by holding a proper dialogue with its organisations and its representatives immediately as a confidence-building measure,” he said.

The Kashmiri Pandit employees posted in the valley have been protesting for the past six months demanding their relocation from the valley to Jammu in the wake of targeted killings of the Hindus by the Islamists.

The KPS, which held a meeting here under the chairmanship of its chief K K Khosa, lambasted the LG administration for its insensitive and shocking attitude and arm-twisting Kashmiri Pandit employees to return back to work.

“While the UT government is well aware that it has failed to provide security, and also in creating a congenial environment in the valley where the Kashmiri Pandits and other minorities could live and work without any fear, such repressive measures and rigid attitude will be resisted by the minorities in general and the Kashmiri Pandit community in particular,” Khosa said.

“Unabated targeted killings of the minorities including the Kashmiri Pandits, especially in the aftermath of the abrogation of articles 370 & 35A, are a stark reality, and remaining in denial about the undercurrents will further complicate the situation in Kashmir,” he said.

Khosa said there is a total disconnect in the valley between the people and the administration, including even among those Kashmiri Pandits who have been living there for the past three decades.

“Let normalcy return to the valley so that these employees feel confident and secure once again,” he said.

“The UT government must understand that they have been rendering their services in the valley with dedication for the past more than a decade and it is only now that the conditions in the valley have deteriorated,” he added.