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Emotions run high as 8-yr-old son lights father Puran Krishan Bhat’s pyre
Community leaders demand compensation, government job for Puran Krishan Bhat’s widow before the 10th day of mourning
Puran Krishan Bhat’s mortal remains were cremated at Ban Talab ground here on Sunday amid the wails of his family members, including his wife, minor daughter and son.
Bhat’s eight-year-old son Shanu, along with his cousins, lit the pyre of the deceased.
While community members and people from all walks of life attended the funeral of the 48-year-old Bhat, an old relative of the deceased, who stood behind Bhat’s children, apparently lost his temper and asked the people to stop raising slogans.
“What will these slogans do for these children? Who would look after them? This ‘zindabad-murdabad’ would not serve any purpose. Ask (PM Narendra) Modi to do something on the ground or else our children will continue to be killed like this,” he said.
Jammu division commissioner Ramesh Kumar, Jammu DC Avny Lavasa and SSP Jammu Chandan Kohli were present at the cremation ground.
After the cremation, Vikram Koul, a community leader asked the divisional commissioner and DC Jammu to provide a government job to Bhat’s wife Sweety, 41.
“Puran Krishan Bhat has left behind his wife and small children. Even a compensation of ₹50 lakh won’t be enough. We request you to give her a government job in Jammu commensurate with her qualifications and the job letter should be delivered to her before the 10th day of mourning,” Koul demanded.
Koul further said, “Going by the selective killings of Kashmiri Pandits, nobody will serve in Kashmir anymore, until and unless the atmosphere is conducive there. For how long will these selective killings go on? We also know that there will be another killing of our child after a fortnight or so”
Koul also apprised the officials that the community youth employed under PM’s employment package, who had fled the Valley following Rahul Bhat’s killing in May and were on a strike seeking their relocation to Jammu.
“Our children have been on strike for the past 150 days. They are not going back to the valley to join their duties to remain alive. Ironically, the officials there are issuing show cause notices to them,” he said.
Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on Saturday outside his ancestral house in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district, where he had gone to look after his orchards.
Earlier, before the cremation, heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed at the cremation ground.
Bhat’s 11-year-old daughter Shreya and 8-year-old son Shanu were seen crying inconsolably. While Shreya was seen repeatedly kissing the forehead of his father, Shanu was staring at the body of his father.
Bhat’s wife, his sister, and other relatives were also crying profusely.
Hundreds of community members had gathered to bid a final adieu to Bhat.
Senior BJP leaders, including J&K president Ravinder Raina, former deputy CMs Kavinder Gupta and Dr Nirmal Singh, were conspicuous by their absence.
“It is very unfortunate that one more Kashmiri pandit fell to the bullets of terrorists, exposing the false claims of the government about improvement in the security situation. He is the 18th minority community member shot dead over the past two years,” Satish Kumar, a relative of the deceased, said.
He said a police post and an army camp are located nearby where Bhat was assassinated, indicating that the security situation in the valley has returned the to early 1990s level.
Chairman of Panun Kashmir Ajay Chrungoo castigated the government for the continued killing of Hindus in Kashmir and said they are caught between “genocidal war unleashed on them by jihadi forces with the state of Pakistan as its prime abettor and the denial of genocide by the government of India”.
The government must pass the ‘Prevention of Genocide and Atrocities Bill’ as proposed by Panun Kashmir, he said.
Panun Kashmir convener Agnishekhar said all claims of normalcy in Kashmir have fallen flat given the continued killings of members of the minority community.
“Tourist arrivals and shooting of films are no signs of normalcy...The real normalcy will be when we (Kashmiri pandits) can move freely and re-settle there without any fear,” he said.
Bhat owned an apple orchard in the Shopian district, and his family came to Jammu two years ago during the Covid pandemic.
On May 12 this year, terrorists shot dead Rahul Bhat inside the revenue office where he worked in Budgam. On August 18, Sunil Kumar was killed, and Paitamber Kumar was injured inside an orchard in the Chotipora village of Shopian.
