Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang Kundbarao Pole said on Saturday said that a majority of Kashmiri Pandits, who had fled the Valley following the killing of Rahul Bhat last year, have returned to Kashmir and joined their duties.
“I reject this notion that all Kashmiri Pandit employees are protesting in Jammu. A majority of these employees have already joined their offices (and) we are releasing their salaries. They have understood the importance of reporting to work,” Pole told a news agency.
Rahul Bhat was shot dead by terrorists inside his office at Chadoora in Budgam district in May last year. The killing had sparked off protests by the Kashmiri Pandit employees who refused to return to work.
Following the killing, the minority community initially staged protests in their transit accommodation. However, as the killings continued, they were forced to leave Kashmir and live in Jammu.
The protesting employees who left the Valley had then staged protests in Jammu, demanding that they be relocated out of Kashmir till the security situation improved here.
Though the administration agreed to look into most of the demands of the Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), it refused to relocate them out of Kashmir. It further hardened its stand against the protesting employees and stopped salaries of those who did not return to work.
According to official data, six Kashmiri Pandits were killed in terror attacks in Kashmir which were linked to The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit.
Following a series of meetings in the union home ministry and J&K administration, the crackdown on militant groups was intensified, which led to the elimination of almost all the terrorists who were involved in the targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers.