177 Kashmiri Pandit teachers transferred to ‘safer places’ amid attacks

However, Kashmiri Pandit teachers deputed in the valley under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package launched in 2008 said the move to transfer them to ‘safer places’ was an “eye wash”. They threatened to intensify protests.

As many as 177 Kashmiri Pandit teachers at government schools were transferred on Saturday to “safer places” after a spate of targeted attacks in the Kashmir valley, but the decision sparked a controversy after the transfer list was leaked on social media.

As many as 177 Kashmiri Pandit teachers at government schools were transferred on Saturday to “safer places” after a spate of targeted attacks in the Kashmir valley (PTI)

“The government has already started posting employees to safer places,” an official of the Jammu and Kashmir administration said, requesting anonymity. The Union territory’s education department posted the teachers to different places considered “safe” for these employees, the official added.

However, Kashmiri Pandits deputed in the valley under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package launched in 2008 said the move to transfer them was an “eye wash”. They threatened to intensify protests.

“This is just shuffling in the name of safer places. There is no safe place in Kashmir,” asked Sandeep Kumar, a member of migrant Pandit employees association.

“Rahul Bhat was killed in the office of magistrate. Is there a more secure place than the magistrate’s office?” he asked. “We are going to start intense agitation in Jammu also.”

Since the killing of government employee Bhat on May 12, Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting at transit accommodations in different places across Kashmir, demanding relocation from valley till the security situation improves. They have not joined work, and hundreds of employees and their family have shifted to Jammu.

The protesting employees also sought Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s intervention in the matter, but the meeting remained inconclusive.

On Saturday, the transfer list was circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded action against officials responsible for the leak, saying it has made these employees vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

“Making the transfer list public on social media platforms is a big security breach, as terrorists now have a clear idea who is posted where,” BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said in a statement.

The government must take strong exception to the leak and take action those responsible, Thakur demanded.

“The government is taking serious steps for the protection of Kashmiri Pandits, but some officials are playing a spoilsport” he said.

A surge of targeted attacks in the Kashmir valley has prompted some Kashmiri Pandits employed under the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation package to start returning to Jammu with some families saying they feared a repeat of the mass exodus of Pandits from the valley in the 1990s.

On Thursday, a 26-year-old bank employee from Rajasthan and a 17-year-old labourer from Bihar were shot dead by terrorists in Kashmir’s Kulgam and Budgam, respectively, taking the toll of targeted civilian killings to 13 since March.

The attacks raised questions over the security of more than 4,000 Kashmiri Pandits living in transit camps in various parts of Kashmir after being given government jobs under a special employment package.