The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti on Tuesday said that the latest threats targeting Kashmiri Pandit employees in the Valley cannot be dismissed as digital noise and described it as a disturbing reminder that while the medium of intimidation has changed, the message remains familiar.
Because circumstances forced him to leave, a Pandit does not become an outsider. What is unfolding is profoundly familiar. In the 1990s, intimidation travelled through posters, loudspeakers and whispers. “The larger question is why a Pandit returning to his ancestral homeland should still have to fear that his return itself exposes him to danger. “If targeted killings are spoken of as something that will continue, what is being promised to families encouraged to return? Brotherhood is valuable, but it cannot substitute for protection, intelligence and accountability. For years, the return of Pandits has been called essential to Kashmir’s pluralism.
President of the samiti Sanjay Tickoo said that a letter attributed to an outfit calling itself United Liberation Council (ULC) — described as a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy — has surfaced on social media carrying names and personal details of Pandit employees. The technology has changed, but the objective is similar to make Kashmiri Pandits feel his birthplace is conditional, his property negotiable and his presence temporary,” Tickoo said in a statement, adding that this cannot be viewed as an isolated incident. Decades of displacement do not convert belonging into intrusion,” he said. Tickoo said the recent remarks attributed to BJP general secretary Ashok Koul at Kapal Mochan, Shopian, that “targeted killings won’t stop” while emphasising brotherhood, merit reflection. Yet when they return, they are asked to adjust; when they seek security, they are told the situation is improving,” he said.
Today it travels through screens and encrypted channels.
“The real test is not how loudly we mourn after a killing, but whether we recognise the warning before it. A Kashmiri Pandit does not need ceremonial brotherhood. He needs assurance that his life will be protected, his personal data safeguarded, and his ancestral property rights secured.
Tickoo said that the majority cannot be blamed for the crimes of militants, but society must examine the environment where such threats can emerge. Returning home should be normal, not an act of extraordinary courage,” he said.
