‘Will be Back Once The Situation Improves’: Last Kashmiri Pandit Leaves Terror-Hit Shopian Village

Kashmiri Pandit Exodus: The families stated that they have left everything in their houses, even the recent harvest of apple. Those who have reached Jammu are living with their relatives.

Srinagar: Dolly Kumari, the last Kashmiri Pandit resident of Choudharygund village of Shopian has left the village and moved to Jammu. “There is an atmosphere of fear. What else I could have done,” said Dolly, adding she’ll be back once the situation improves.

“I will come back if the situation improves. It’s my home. Who wants to leave her home? Everyone loves home. I feel very sad that I had to leave my home” Dolly told NDTV.

Her migration to Jammu comes as 10 Kashmiri Pandit families leave their village in Shopian days after the killing of a community member by terrorists.  The residents of Choudharygund asserted that the recent attacks triggered a fear psychosis among the Pandits who lived in Kashmir through the most difficult period of terrorism in the 1990s and did not leave their homes.

Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists outside his ancestral house in Choudharygund village of Shopian district on October 15. On October 18, Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian.

The families stated that they have left everything in their houses, even the recent harvest of apple. Those who have reached Jammu are living with their relatives.