Killing of Rahul Bhat First target from PM’s package,

5th KP attacked after Aug 2019

Srinagar: Thirty-six year old Rahul Bhat, a clerk in the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s Revenue Department, is the first Kashmiri Pandit employed under the Prime Minister’s special package for rehabilitation of the displaced population, who has been shot dead by terrorists in the valley.

In all, terrorists have attacked 5 Kashmiri Pandits after abrogation of Article 370 and reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh in August 2019.

Bhat had been appointed and posted in Kashmir in the PM package’s first batch in the year 2010. With his parents still in Jammu, he had been staying with his unemployed wife and 5-year-old daughter at the Migrant Transit Camp Sheikhpora, Budgam. Even as he had the reputation of the most hard working and people-friendly official of the Revenue Department at Tehsil Office Budgam, where he had put in about 10 years of his service, he was transferred to Tehsil Office Chadoura in 2021.

Bhat’s family members are lamenting that his requests of transfer back to Budgam or some other secure place after some terror incidents were ignored by the authorities which resulted in his death. He was originally a resident of Budgam’s Sangrampora where the minority community’s first massacre took place 25 years back. On the night of 21 March 1997, terrorists shot dead seven resident Pandits.

Bhat’s education up to post-graduation before his recruitment into the government service happened in Jammu.

Terror attacks on soft targets have been stepped up in the valley after August 2019. Those killed or left wounded include a number of the non-local workers—Hindus as well as Muslims—, resident and migrant Kashmiri Pandits, BJP activists and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) irrespective of their religion or domicile.

Ahead of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit in October 2021, terrorists carried out a spree of killings to spread fear. Those attacked and killed included the popular Pandit chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, Sikh schoolteacher Supinder Kaur and her Hindu colleague from Jammu Deepak Chand. Previously, Bhupinder Singh, chairman of Block Development Council Khag, was shot dead in his village Dalwash on 23 September 2020.

Bhat is the 5th Kashmiri Pandit targeted after August 2019 when terrorists swore to drag out all outsiders and non-Muslims from the valley.

Sarpanch Ajay Pandita Bharti was the first Kashmiri Pandit shot dead at his village Luka Bhawan in Anantnag district on 8 June 2020. Chairman of Municipal Committee Tral, Rakesh Pandita, was shot dead in Tral on 3 June 2021. Chemist Makhan Lal Bindro was gunned down at his pharmacy near Iqbal Park in Srinagar on 5 October 2021.

In the current year, Bal Krishen aka Sonu, was attacked and left critically wounded at his pharmacy in Chotigam Shopian on 4 April. He recovered at Army’s base hospital in Srinagar. On 12 May 2022, terrorists shot dead Rahul Bhat in Chadoura, Budgam.

While protests erupted at all the Pandit neighbourhoods across Kashmir—Sheikhpora Budgam, Baramulla, Vesu Kulgam, Haal Shopian and Indira Nagar Srinagar—a Police statements claimed that the killers’ two Pakistani associates were located and killed in an encounter with the security forces in Bandipora. It claimed that Bhat’s killers, Aquib Shergujri and Lateef Rather, were traced to Bandipora hours after striking in Chadoora. They escaped but their Pakistani associates were killed in the encounter.

Condemnations poured in from almost all the political parties but, surprisingly, not one politician visited the outraged and traumatised Pandits at their Sheikhpora Budgam camp till late on Saturday.

In Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah-led Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Alliance (PAGD) held a meeting on Bhat’s assassination and sought appointment for a meeting with the LG.

The PAGD spokesman Yusuf Tarigami said that a Pandit delegation met the PAGD leaders following which the alliance discussed the issue in a meeting and decided to meet the LG. Raj Bhawan has reportedly fixed the appointment at 11.30 am on Sunday.

Workers of the BJP and Congress took out two separate rallies in solidarity with the Pandits at Jawahar Nagar and Maulana Azad Road in Srinagar. The participants shouted anti-terrorist and anti-Pakistan slogans. In the evening on Saturday, a candle light march was organised for Rahul Bhat at Sheikhpora.

“We are deeply concerned over this boy’s killing. There are strict instructions to track down and eliminate his killers Aaquib Shergujri and Lateef Rather. We have beefed up security at the migrant camps and permitted the employees to stay at home for a few days. However, the suggestion of their en masse posting in Jammu or providing bodyguards to over 3,000 employees is neither possible nor reasonable. We are giving assurances to the minority community. We are hopeful of peace in a few days”, said a senior official, wishing anonymity.

Updated On 5/15/2022 11:33:28 AM