Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today handed over appointment letter to Sweety Bhat, wife of martyr Puran Krishan Bhat, who was killed by terrorists in Shopian.
“We stand with the family of late Puran Krishan Ji and committed for their well-being in the future,” observed the Lt Governor.
The family members of Puran Krishan Bhat were also present at the Raj Bhawan.
Krishen was killed outside his home in Chaudhary Gund village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district on October 15.
Krishen had fled to the winter capital after a Kashmiri Pandit was gunned down in the adjoining Chotigam village in August last year. According to his family, he had returned to harvest the apple crop in his orchard when the killers struck outside his home.
His 13-year-old daughter had asked with him to not return to Kashmir. “He told her that he was safe among his Muslim neighbours and there was nothing to worry about. He felt that he had to buy the baardaan and also arrange for labourers to harvest the apples,” said Sunita.
According to official figures, six Kashmiri Hindus are gunned down by terrorists in 2022 which was one of the worst years for the minority community in the Valley after many decades. Security forces also killed at least 180 militants in various encounters across the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pandit killings had forced the minority community, and especially those who had shifted to Kashmir as part of the PM’s migrant package, to flee to Jammu. Most of them were staging protests and had refused to join the duties, fearing threat to their lives.