Another Kashmiri Pandit Shot Dead By Terrorists In Latest Targeted Killing

In yet another instance of targeted killing, a Kashmiri Pandit was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on Saturday, officials said.

Puran Krishan Bhat was attacked near his residence in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir district, they said, adding that doctors declared Mr Bhat brought dead after he was shifted to a Shopian hospital.

The area has been cordoned off, and a hunt has been launched to catch the criminals, they added.

Mr Bhat has two school going children - a girl who studies in class 7 and a younger boy who is in class 5 - a relative said. "He didn't even step out of his house, used to be indoors. We are very scared," he added.

This comes barely a couple of months after another Kashmiri Pandit was shot dead by terrorists at an apple orchard in Shopian district. His brother was also injured in the firing. The victim was identified as Sunil Kumar. His brother Pintu Kumar was injured in the attack that happened on August 16.

The August attack was claimed by 'Kashmir Freedom Fighters', an offshoot of Al Badr, in a statement that said that the Pandit brothers had been targeted for encouraging people to take part in the 'Tiranga rallies' in the run-up to Independence Day celebrations.

Sources had then said the government, based on inputs from the country's top body for intelligence sharing 'Multi-Agency Centre', was bracing for more such violence.

"There are regular inputs which suggest that a large quantity of small arms and ammunition has been smuggled from across the border, and it's a clear indicator that such targeted killing and isolated cases of grenade throwing will see an increase in coming days," a senior officer in the Home Ministry has said then.

Kashmir has been witnessing a series of targeted killings since October last year. Many of the victims have been migrant workers or Kashmiri Pandits.

In October last year, seven civilians were killed in five days -- among them a Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh, and two migrant Hindus.

In May, terrorists barged into the tehsildar's office in Budgam and shot dead 36-year-old Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit who received a government job under a package for the community that was forced to flee the Valley during the wave of militancy in the 1990s.

The killing triggered a wave of protests by the minority community. Kashmiri Pandits held demonstrations during which they raised slogans under the central government and questioned if they brought them back to the Valley to get killed.