Kashmir Fight blog, the mouthpiece of Islamic terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF) – an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, has issued threat to 57 Kashmiri Pandit employees working as teachers under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package (PMRP) in the Valley.

The threat letter naming these employees has triggered fear among the 6,000 odd Kashmiri Pandit community still living in the Valley, many of whom are serving in various government departments.

Various organisations of Kashmiri Pandits have voiced serious concern over these threats which have been issued in the backdrop of killings of 24 Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri Hindus by the terrorists in the Valley during last one year.

Kashmiri Pandit organisations have demand a high level inquiry to find out how the names of employees were leaked to the terrorist outfit. BJP has also demanded a probe by its own government into the leakage of the list.

Kashmiri Pandit employees have been demanding that they should be posted in the Jammu division. Authorities have not accepted the demand and have instead been working on a plan to post these employees to ‘safer places’ in the Valley.

Kashmiri Hindus are on edge, govt. refuses to listen

Many such PMRP employees have been sitting on a protest for over 200 days outside the rehabilitation commissioner’s office in Jammu demanding relocation. Protests had started after a govt employee Rahul Bhat was murdered in Budgam in May.

On Constitution Day, November 26, Kashmiri Pandit Migrant Employees held a barefoot march in Jammu demanding that the government should address their safety concerns while bringing out a comprehensive roadmap, and relocate them to Jammu till the situation improves in the Valley.

Now, after the leak of employee data, their legitimate fears have been heightened.

“Terror groups have previously sent us threat letters, but this time, the warning is accompanied by a list of employees. This has created a fear not only among the protesting employees but the entire community,” Ranjan Zutshi, one of the protesting employees, told PTI on Monday.

Demanding a probe into the leak of names to terrorists, Zutshi said it shows the terror ecosytem is deep-rooted and needs to be dismantled by taking stern action against overground supporters.

Another employee Rakesh Kumar said their demands for the past 208 days have gone unanswered.

“The government is stopping our salaries and using pressure tactics to force us to move back to our place of postings in the Valley. How can we even think of returning in such a situation? We can work only if we are alive…the government should immediately relocate us to save our families who are suffering immensely, both mentally as well as financially,” he said.

Panun Kashmir (PK) chairman, Ajay Chrungoo, Kashmiri Pandit Sabha president, K.K. Khosa, Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC) president, Kundan Kashmiri, All India Migrant Camp Coordination Committee (AIMCCC) president, Desh Rattan and other Pandit leaders have expressed grave concern over the threat letter and urged the government to ensure the safety of the PM package employees by accepting their demand of relocation till situation becomes conducive in the Valley.

In November, terror group The Resistance Front had put out a list of 76 journalists which the terrorists labelled “paid agents and collaborators of the Indian Police and Intelligence agencies”; out of the 76 names, 32 were of journalists based out of Srinagar.

As per renowned internal security journalist Vicky Nanjappa, although a lot of terrorist sympathizers within the govt system have been weeded out after Article 370 was revoked, there is still a lot of rot left within the system which is leaking sensitive data to terrorists; such lists are published to trigger panic and force non-Muslims to leave the valley. This internal fifth column had been given jobs by earlier dispensations.

But whatever the govt’s justification for digging in its heels, the murder of two Kashmiri Pandits working in govt. jobs – Rahul Bhat and Rajni Bala – in May this year, both of whom were refused transfers and forced to join duty despite feeling unsafe, should have been enough to prove that all Kashmiri Pandit PMRP employees need to be moved out of the valley.

Every time a Kashmir Pandit is murdered, a fresh mini-exodus is reported – like this in October after Puran Krishan Bhat’s killing, and another in October last year after the brutal murders of pharmacist ML Bindroo and govt. school teachers Deepak Chand and Supinder Kour.

Not just is the Indian State failing to keep Hindus safe in the valley, the Supreme Court has rejected three petitions of Kashmiri Pandits seeking justice for the killings and forced exodus starting from 1989, leading to further loss of faith in the entire system.

If the government is serious about resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits, it must consider proposals like the one Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) has put together for ‘One Place Settlement’ i.e. a city where Kashmiri Hindus can stay together.

Is the govt. refusing to relocate Kashmiri Pandit PMRP employees to Jammu out of hubris, out of a misplaced desire to show ‘normalcy’ in the Valley in the run-up to state elections that are speculated to be held in April-May next year? If that is indeed the case, it would be yet another indictment of the Indian State’s apathy towards Hindu lives.

Revocation of Article 370 was an excellent and much needed step, and no one can deny that many things have changed for the better in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh over the last 3 years. But it was well understood that the poison of Islamic radicalization which sunk deep into Kashmiri society over several decades, cannot be drained out in a few years. It needs a decade or more, at the least.

Why not patiently weed out all the terror sympathizers within the govt apparatus and create effective deterrence against terror, before continuing with the Kashmiri Pandit rehabilitation experiment? Why this rush to hold elections? Is it because of Western pressure – by the same US, UK etc. which continue to fund, support and weaponize Pakistan, the source of the Kashmir jihad? Why aren’t ideas like GKPD’s “One Place Settlement” or ‘Panun Kashmir’ being considered seriously?

Why are Hindu lives always so expendable for the secular Indian State and Republic?

(With IANS inputs)