Kashmiri Pandits Protest, Threaten To Leave After Targeted Killings

Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits came out in Srinagar today in protest against targeted killings. Many of them, especially government employees from the Kashmiri Pandit community, have left the valley and the rest have threatened to migrate to Jammu region, putting a jobs package for them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at risk of failing.

Visuals of hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar show them shouting slogans and demanding to leave the valley, on a day a bank manager from Rajasthan was shot dead by a terrorist in Kulgam district in the second targeted attack on Hindus in three days.

Amit Koul, who led protests in Srinagar for three weeks, shared a photo from the Srinagar-Jammu highway. He told NDTV he crossed Ramsoo in Ramban district and reached Jammu this evening.

To stop them from leaving, the Union Territory administration had put up barricades and locked gates to transit camps.

The minority community has been protesting since Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit, was shot dead inside the magistrate's office in Budgam last month.

Srinagar Airport said a media report that Kashmiri Pandits are flying out in large numbers is incorrect.

"We strongly rebut this sensational rumour mongering. We handle between 16,000 to 18,000 passengers everyday. Today also the number of passengers is average. There is no heavy rush of minority community as rumoured...Please do not spread rumours like this," the airport tweeted on its official handle.

Home Minister Amit Shah met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Delhi to review the situation.

Mr Shah has also called the Union Territory's Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to Delhi for a meeting. The Home Minister is likely to ask him why, despite the centre's efforts, the administration has not been able to assure safety for the minority community in the valley.