Editor's Pick: Home Minister holds talks as Kashmiri Pandits flee Valley

Hundreds of fear-stricken Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley for the Hindu-majority Jammu district on Friday even as the Centre turned down their demand of relocation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held three rounds of meetings to review security and development issues related to Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, scores of vehicles, carrying Pandit employees and their families, left the Valley in the morning from the Pandit transit colonies in south Kashmir’s Mattan and Vessu, Srinagar’s Sheikhpora and north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara. Kashmiri Pandits living in the Mattan transit colony in Anantnag said over 80% of the families have left for Jammu since June 1. “We hear only hollow assurances from the administration. We do not feel safe after the recent killings. Of the 96 families living in the Mattan colony, only a dozen are left behind. They too will leave this place in the coming days,” said a Pandit employee, on condition of anonymity. A majority of the 250 Pandit employees living in rented houses in Mattan area hired vehicles before sunrise and moved to Jammu district, which is around 290 km from the Valley. “There are back-to-back killings in the Valley. The killings of a schoolteacher and a bank manager have shattered our faith in the security system. Our only demand is to relocate the employees outside Kashmir till the situation improves. Posting employees to district headquarters won’t help or protect them,” said a Pandit of the Mattan camp, who joined the protests against the government for turning down their relocation demands. Eight civilians have been killed in targeted killings by militants over the past few days in Kashmir. The Jagti camp in Jammu, set up in the 1990s, received 120 Kashmiri Pandit families from north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts in the past 24 hours. A Pandit employee said: “The killing of Pandits has not stopped since 1990. In the 1990s, we knew where there was a greater degree of threat. This time we are not sure which place is safe.” The dilution of Article 370, the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and special constitutional status in 2019 have led to fresh challenges in the Valley, an editorial in The Hindu pointed out. The changed status of Jammu and Kashmir, scores of Pandits leaving the Valley as fear mounts and the government’s unwillingness to give in to their demand for relocation makes the exodus story important. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials Control and delete: On government appellate panels for social media Gradual engagement: On India-Taliban ties The Hindu’s Daily Quiz In a money laundering case involving which newspaper, has Congress President Sonia Gandhi been summoned by the ED on June 8? National Gazette National Herald New India India Herald To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 04 JUNE 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Home Minister holds talks as Kashmiri Pandits flee Valley Hundreds of fear-stricken [Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley]( for the Hindu-majority Jammu district on Friday even as the Centre turned down their demand of relocation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held three rounds of meetings to review security and development issues related to Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, scores of vehicles, carrying Pandit employees and their families, left the Valley in the morning from the Pandit transit colonies in south Kashmir’s Mattan and Vessu, Srinagar’s Sheikhpora and north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara. Kashmiri Pandits living in the Mattan transit colony in Anantnag said over 80% of the families have left for Jammu since June 1. “We hear only hollow assurances from the administration. We do not feel safe after the recent killings. Of the 96 families living in the Mattan colony, only a dozen are left behind. They too will leave this place in the coming days,” said a Pandit employee, on condition of anonymity. A majority of the 250 Pandit employees living in rented houses in Mattan area hired vehicles before sunrise and moved to Jammu district, which is around 290 km from the Valley.  “There are back-to-back killings in the Valley. The killings of a schoolteacher and a bank manager have shattered our faith in the security system. Our only demand is to relocate the employees outside Kashmir till the situation improves. Posting employees to district headquarters won’t help or protect them,” said a Pandit of the Mattan camp, who joined the protests against the government for turning down their relocation demands. Eight civilians have been killed in targeted killings by militants over the past few days in Kashmir. The Jagti camp in Jammu, set up in the 1990s, received 120 Kashmiri Pandit families from north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts in the past 24 hours. A Pandit employee said: “The killing of Pandits has not stopped since 1990. In the 1990s, we knew where there was a greater degree of threat. This time we are not sure which place is safe.” The dilution of Article 370, the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and special constitutional status in 2019 have led to fresh challenges in the Valley, [an editorial in The Hindu pointed out.]( The changed status of Jammu and Kashmir, scores of Pandits leaving the Valley as fear mounts and the government’s unwillingness to give in to their demand for relocation makes the exodus story important. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? 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