In Frames | On same side of fence

They persevered at the height of militancy, but called it quits in the latest outrage on Pandits; their Kashmiri brethren now take care of their property with a heavy heart

In October, suspected militants killed Puran Krishan Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit, near his house in Choudhary Gund area of Shopian district in south Kashmir. Bhat was among the few Kashmiri Pandits who stayed back in the Valley in 1989-90, when many of them fled from the Valley migrating to Jammu and other parts of the country due to the start of the militancy in the region.

Bhat’s killing triggered a wave of fear among the residents and at least 10 Pandit families, witness to the conflict for the past three decades, have now fled the area.

Days after the targeted killing, the locality in Shopian wears a deserted look. The houses of Kashmiri Pandits are locked and their Muslim neighbours are helping to take care of their orchards and apple produce as it is harvest season in the Valley.

“I take care of the orchard of Pushkar Nath Bhat. I have to transport at least 2,000 apple boxes from his orchard. He has fled from here,” said Ajaz Ahmad.

Wali Muhammad, another resident of the locality, has worked in the house of a Kashmiri Pandit for at least 20 years now. “We lived happily for many decades,” he said.

Ghulam Muhammad Shah, an elderly resident of Shopian, said that he along with his neighbours urged the Pandits to stay back even at the peak of the crisis in the 1990s. “They didn’t face any problem since then till this year. This time, they fled and it is very sad. They should come back and live here,” said Mr. Shah.