Hundreds of Pandit families flee Kashmir in dead of night
AMN
Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting in New Delhi on Friday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha and senior officials attended the meeting.
Last month as well, Mr. Shah held meetings to review the security situation in the Union Territory as well as the preparations for Amarnath Yatra. The Minister had directed security forces and the police to conduct coordinated counter-terrorism operations pro-actively. Mr. Shah had said, the security forces should ensure zero cross-border infiltration to wipe out terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile shaken growing targeted civilian killings, hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit families left transit camps in the Valley in the dead of night on Thursday while a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi today reviewed the security situation in Kashmir.
The transit camps looked deserted on Friday as hundreds of fear-stricken employees escaped to Jammu. At the highly guarded Sheikhpora transit camp in Budgam, which used to house nearly 400 migrant families, only 30 families stayed back to sort out school-related issues of their children. Some families hired taxis while many went in their own vehicles, leaving behind a deserted colony.
“The 30 remaining families which will also soon leave have managed to get the approval of the school administration to allow their kids to attend online classes,” said Ashwini Pandita, a PWD engineer.
The MHA meeting convened in the wake of nine targeted killings since May 1 was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Manoj Pande and Lt Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha among others. Shah reviewed the overall security situation in J&K with special focus on the safety of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley, an MHA official said. The meeting chaired by Shah was the second such exercise in less than a fortnight. Since 2010, nearly 4,500 employees have been appointed under the PM’s special employment scheme for Kashmir Pandit migrants.
Nearly 1,100 employees were living with their families in transit camps while others were living in rented accommodation.
Besides Sheikhpora, similar scenes of migration were witnessed last night at Anantnag, Kupwara and Baramulla transit camps, where over 50 per cent of the families have left.