J&K: Gupkar to discuss with LG Pandits' safety issue

SRINAGAR: The four-party Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) met a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits on Saturday and decided to seek an appointment with J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to take up the community's fears about safety in the Valley after government clerk Rahul Bhat died in a targeted terrorist shooting in his office in Budgam on Thursday.
Anger continued to boil over in the UT on Saturday. A group of Kashmiri Pandit employees staged a protest in Srinagar and demanded their relocation to safe places outside the Valley. Instead of solidarity and support, the All PM Package Employees Forum said, members of the community are facing teargas shells, baton charge, detention and arrests for resenting the killing. The forum has planned a rally on Sunday.
Clashes were reported in settlements built for Kashmiri Pandits in Anantnag, Budgam - where Bhat lived with his wife and daughter - and Baramulla following travel restrictions in these camps. The meeting at NC chief Farooq Abdullah's home in Srinagar discussed heightened fears of the community following Bhat's killing and some even suggested leaving the Valley for good if adequate security isn't provided to Kashmiri Pandits living and working in J&K.
(With agency inputs)