Amid continuous targeted killings of Hindus by Islamists in the Valley, 10 Kashmiri Hindu families have left their village in the Shopian district in south Kashmir out of fear and reached Jammu.
The residents of Choudharygund said the recent terrorist attacks have triggered a fear psychosis among the Pandits who lived in Kashmir through the most difficult period of Islamic terrorism in the 1990s and did not leave their homes.
“Ten families comprising 35 to 40 Kashmiri Pandits have migrated out of our village due to the fear psychosis,” a resident of Chouharygund who faced a death threat recently told PTI. He further said the village was now empty.
“The situation is not conducive for us to live in Kashmir Valley. We live in fear due to killings. There is no security for us,” another Hindu said.
The villagers further said that a police post was set up away from their village even though they repeatedly sought protection. They said they have left everything in their houses, even the recent harvest of apples.
On October 15, a Kashmiri Hindunamed Puran Krishan Bhat was shot dead by Islamists outside his ancestral house in Choudharygund village of Shopian district. Three days later, On October 18, two Hindus named Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by Islamists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian. Islamists have killed several Hindus in the Valley this year.
