J&K: Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit Govt employees submit mass resignation to Guv over safety issue

At least 350 Kashmiri Pandit employees working under the Prime Minister's employment package have resigned in mass to J & K Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha. They reportedly told Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the Centre in the letter that they did not feel safe in Kashmir. 

This has come after terrorists assassinated Kashmiri Pandit government employee Rahul Bhat in the tehsildar office in Budgam.

Terrorists fired on Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit government employee, inside the Tehsil office in Chadoora town last evening, inflicting serious injuries. He was rushed to a hospital in Srinagar and died there. The 'Kashmir Tigers' terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack. In 2010-11, he was hired as a clerk through the special employment package for migrants.

Today, government employees and families of Kashmiri Pandits protested the administration's targeted killing of Rahul Bhat in Budgam.

A video purportedly taken at the protest site showed police firing tear gas shells at protesters to keep them from moving towards the Airport Road as clashes between officials and protesters erupted.

"The L-G administration should provide us with security. Otherwise, we will resign in bulk from our respective positions "According to Amit, a Kashmiri Pandit.

"If the administration can use lathicharge and tear gas on the public, couldn't they have apprehended the terrorists yesterday?" another protester asked.

Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who has been placed under house arrest, has stated her desire to visit Budgam to express solidarity with Kashmiri Pandits.

"Have been put under house arrest as the fact that Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits empathise with each other's pain doesn't fit into their vicious communal narrative," Mehbooba Mufti said in a tweet.