Gunmen may have killed a body but not our spirit: kin of deceased Kashmiri Pandit
The Hindu
Bindoor, a resident of Indira Nagar, were among a few Kashmiri Pandit families that decided to stay back in Valley in the 1990s, when militancy broke out
Family members of the Bindoors, whose father was shot dead inside Srinagar’s famous pharmacy ‘Bindroo Medicate’ by militants on October 5, put up a brave face on Wednesday, saying “the gunmen may have killed a body but not the spirit” of the family.
“My father, Makhan Lal Bindroo, will always be alive in the spirit with which we have been brought up. Mr. [gunman), who shot my father while he was working, if you have the guts, then come have a debate with me. You won’t. You merely know how to hurl stones and open fire,” said Dr. Shraddha Bindroo, the victim’s daughter.
Bindoor’s son said his father “was a principled man who earned a name by selling genuine medicine. He was respected by all in Kashmir for being helpful and friendly. He motivated me to return [to Kashmir] and serve people here. He had no threat as such. Even if he had, he was brave enough to keep his shop open, as he did since the 1990s”.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.