Massive protests have erupted in Indian-controlled Kashmir as a result of militant strikes targeting Hindu civilians, offering a new challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government three years after the region's statehood and autonomy were revoked.
At least four Hindus have been assassinated in recent weeks, including a bank employee who was shot dead at his office in Kulgam on Thursday, instilling fear and fury among Kashmiri Hindus known as Pandits. In 2019, the Modi government modified the Muslim-majority enclave's constitutional status and granted jobs and other benefits to Hindus who relocated there. Pandits are now marching to the streets in droves, demanding that they be transferred.
Avinash Bhat, a 43-year-old teacher stationed just outside Srinagar, the regional capital, claimed he hasn't left his house in 20 days. "My daughter forbids me from going out," Bhat, a community spokesman, explained. "She is concerned that I, too, may perish."
Last month, a 35-year-old Hindu man named Rahul Bhat (no connection to the teacher) was gunned down at a government office in central Kashmir, sparking demonstrations.
Pandits say they are caught between terrorists who are targeting them because of their faith and a government that is profiting from their predicament.
Kashmir is a contested Himalayan territory whose control is split between archrivals India and Pakistan. Militant organisations have maintained a decades-long insurgency against Indian rule, with some help from Pakistan. During the peak of the turmoil in Kashmir in the 1990s, tens of thousands of Pandits were forced to flee.
In May, an Indian army general described the recent civilian killings as a result of the militants' "frustration" with the valley's "terrorism."
"The government's claim of normalcy will crumble if we leave [Kashmir] again," Bhat warned. "We're aware that we're a part of the optics." But we can't put our lives on the line for someone else's politics."
Pandits have frequently been in the political spotlight under Modi's Hindu nationalist regime. Critics claim that Modi and his party have exploited the community's terrible history to sow suspicion among India's Muslim majority and justify the militarization of Kashmir.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, promised in its 2014 election manifesto to help Pandits return "to the land of their forefathers with full dignity, security, and assured livelihood."
Despite pledges from Delhi, life has been difficult for those who have gone to Kashmir in the years following. The majority of them live in confined government apartments that are heavily guarded. However, the killings have continued, with many taking place in workplaces.
A software engineer who moved to Kashmir in 2015 to take a government job said he had been looking to buy land to build his dream house. Now, he cannot wait to get out. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing that he could be a target.
The government has “failed to protect our lives,” said the 36-year-old father of two, who is packing up to leave if the government doesn’t move his family to safety.
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