According to the latest figures by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 115 Kashmiri pandit families have left the valley for the Jammu region in October this year.
Responding to a question asked by Naranbhai Rathwa in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Nityanad Rai shared the figure, adding that those who have left are mostly women and children.
He, however, did not link this movement out of the valley with the recent incidents of targeted killing of minorities in Srinagar.
“These families are that of government employees many of whom move to Jammu in winter as part of a movement of officials and the winter vacation in education institutions,” MoS said.
The response comes after Srinagar saw 16 instances of targeted killings in October and November this year. A school principal, teacher, chemist, salesman have all been targeted by terror groups leading to concerns about the safety of minorities.
Rathwa in his question had asked if Hindus and Sikhs were leaving Srinagar due to rising concerns about their safety, Rai said robust security and intelligence grid is in place to ensure the safety of the minority community in Srinagar.
“In addition to the group security in the form of static guard day and night, area domination and patrolling are being carried out in the area where the minorities reside besides proactive operations against the terrorists,” Rai said.
MHA also said that the total number of terror incidents have come down in the valley since the abrogation of special status. While 843 incidents were reported between 2017 April and 2019 August, the number came down to 496 between August 2019 and November 2021. Civilian killings, however, have almost remained constant — 86 before abrogation and 79 after it. 78 army personnel were killed before abrogation but only 45 after it.
Infiltration too has come down as per the MHA data. In 2018, it was 143, in 2019, it was 141 and in 2020, it recorded 51 and this year only 28 infiltrations have been recorded. The data assumes significance amidst concerns that Jaish and Lashkar cadre who were fighting in Afghanistan would now be pushed into the valley. BSF DG Pankaj Singh said on Tuesday that the forces are aware of the Afghanistan situation having the potential to affect security, law and order in the valley. He said paramilitary forces are in regular touch with intelligence agencies to avoid such a situation.
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