| News Details |
| Several Pandit organizations condemn Kulgam incident, denounce district authorities for diluting the case | | claim incident vindicates their stand on community’s mass exodus in 1990 |
Jammu, October 22, (Scoop News)-Several displaced Kashmiri Pandit organisations have strongly condemned the stone lobbing incident at village Renipora in Kulgam district in which the house of one Autar Krishan was targeted on Deepawali, October 19.
The Pandit leaders also castigated both district administration and police for diluting it by claiming the incident was a case of ‘land dispute’ and said that their decision to leave Kashmir in early 90’s stands vindicated. “If it was case of ‘land dispute’ only as claimed by the district officials why stones were hurled on the house particularly on the day of Deepwali and not couple of days earlier or a few days later, why this specific day was chosen by the stone throwers,” they asked.
A video on social media created a sensation across the state and beyond showing a retired government official, Autar Krishan and his wife squatting in the middle of an inter district road to register their protest.
Seeking protection for his family from the state, Krishan said that he has not migrated and decided to stay put in Kashmir in 1990 following mass exodus of his community members. He retired from his job in 2011 and, according to him, has been living with dignity among the majority Muslim community all these years.
The couple charged Naseer Ahmed Bhat and his brothers living in the neighbourhood for hurling stones on the day Deepawali, apparently coercing them to leave the village. Krishan said his house was subjected to a volley of stones after he lit the lamps and candles to celebrate the annual festival. (Deepawali, a Hindu and Sikh festival of lights, celebrated across the country and abroad with religious fervor and jubilation. Sikhs celebrate it as Bandha Chhor day).
“I immediately contacted Police Control Room (PCR) for help. A police jeep was deployed outside my house but once the vehicle left, the stones were once again hurled towards our house,” he said.
Krishan said he was not going to leave the village at his neighbour’s behest. “He will leave Kashmir only when Geelani seb asks him to leave the place otherwise not,” he said adding, “otherwise my departure too will be counted with alleged Jagmohan’s exodus.”
The video also focused on Krishan’s wife who charged her neighbours of intimidation, persecution and causing damage to the boundary wall of the house. “We feel peace of mind here. Our children want us to be with them but we have been consistently declining their offer because of love for our ancestral land,” she said with her moistened eyes.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate Kulgam has said the altercation between Pandit and Muslim families in the area was a result of land dispute. He said he visited the spot to assess the ground realities in order to initiate the necessary measures.
“The scuffle took place over a piece of land between the two families and the incident has been wrongly interpreted and circulated on social media,” he added. The deputy commissioner said that an First Investigation Report (FIR) No 182/2017 dated 19.10. 2017 has already been lodged in the concerned police station and consequent arrests have been made.
The District Magistrate has also directed the concerned Superintendent of Police to speed up the investigation process and book the miscreants who have misrepresented the facts and tried to vitiate the communal harmony by posting ‘grossly twisted information’ on social media.
He also asked revenue officials to sort out the land dispute between the two families at the earliest.
Police sources, however, said a case has been registered under various section of the Ranbir Panel Code (RPC) including wrongful restraint, criminal assault to outrage modesty of a woman and endangering life against the accused on October 19 itself. ... |
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