Kashmiri Pandit Shot Dead in Targeted Killing

In yet another attack on the minority community, a Kashmiri Pandit working as a security guard at a bank was shot dead by suspected militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama Sunday morning, police said. This is the first fatal attack on a Kashmiri Pandit in the Valley since October.

On Sunday morning, suspected militants fired at Sanjay Sharma in Achan village, Pulwama, according to officials. Sharma, who was critically injured in the attack, was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

In October last year, a Kashmiri Pandit farmer Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by suspected militants outside his house in Chowdhary Gund village of Shopian. The killing had triggered a fresh wave of migration from the Valley as ten families from the village left for Jammu soon after. There has been a series of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and other members of the minority community in the Valley since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019. The attacks have picked up since October 2021.

Reacting to the incident, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said he was “deeply saddened to hear of the demise of Sanjay Pandith". “Sanjay was working as a bank security guard & was killed in a militant attack earlier today. I unequivocally condemn this attack & send my condolences to his loved ones,” Abdullah tweeted.