Puran Bhat left behind two kids, was lone breadwinner: Relative in Kashimir
The mortal remains of Bhat will reach here late Saturday night and the cremation will take place on Sunday, officials said.
Puran Krishan Bhat, the Kashmiri Pandit who was shot dead on Saturday, was a frequent visitor to his home town in Shopian district and never faced any problem. On Thursday, he had gone there to join his brother to attend their apple orchard.
"He left behind two little children. He was the only breadwinner. Now, he's no more. Everything is finished. It is a targeted killing. They don't kill just anyone who comes before them but those whom they don't like. They don't want Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir,” Bhat's his brother-in-law said.
Also read: J&K: Pulwama attackers among four Jaish, Lashkar terrorists killed in Shopian
Bhat had reportedly shifted his wife and the two children - a son studying in Class 5 and a daughter who is in Class 7 - to Jammu in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. Before that, all of them were living in Shopian, said one of Bhat’s relatives waiting for his body, news agency PTI reported
PTI added that Bhat’s wife and the children were in a state of shock as relatives and neighbours, who rushed there, were seen consoling them.
“The news of his death came as a shock for us. They are brutes who do not want any Indian nationalist in the Valley,” a relative of Bhat said.
“The government must do something to stop such killings. What wrong did he do to anyone?” a neighbour said.
The mortal remains of Bhat will reach here late Saturday night and the cremation will take place on Sunday, officials said.
Also read: NIA conducts raids in Jammu and Kashmir in ‘drone delivery’ case: Officials
The Kashmiri Pandit was attacked near his residence in the Chowdhary Gund area of the south Kashmir district. Bhat was rushed to a hospital in Shopian, but he was declared dead, the police said.
According to the deputy inspector general of police Sujit Kumar, the Kashmir Freedom Fighter (KFF) group - the proxy name of a terrorist group - has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
While several political leaders have condemned the attack, hundreds of protesting displaced Kashmiri Pandit employees blocked the Jammu-Akhnoor road on Saturday to protest the killing. Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists also joined the protest and set ablaze an effigy of Pakistan.
(With inputs from PTI)
