Hindus fearful in Jammu and Kashmir after wave of assassinations

SRINAGAR (Reuters) – Small groups of terrorists armed with pistols have carried out a spate of targeted killings in Jammu & Kashmir, sowing fear among some minority communities. At least 28 civilians have been killed by suspected militants this year in the Muslim-majority region.

The killing this week of a number of Hindus and a Sikh points to the fact that religious minorities were now being targetted. Two teachers – one Hindu, one Sikh – who were shot dead inside a government school in the main city of Srinagar on Thursday. Based on information recovered from the body of  a terrorist outfit commander killed last month, authorities believe The Resistance Front (TRF) militant group is targetting political workers and civilians, a senior police official told Reuters.

“The (cells) are small and at least three dozen militants with pistols are operating in Kashmir with a main focus on Srinagar,” the official said, declining to be named. J&K police have described the TRF as a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. The TRF emerged in the wake abrogation of Article 370 and Kashmir returning to relative peace and normalcy after years of violence.

Vijay Kumar, Kashmir Valley’s police chief, said militant groups had changed their strategy in response to a crackdown by security forces, but local authorities were already pursuing several leads into the recent spate of killings. But members of the Hindu Kashmiri Pandit community, some of whom returned to the Kashmir valley after leaving during the early years of militancy, were unnerved by the violence. “There is lot of fear among the community members and we are afraid of coming out of our homes,” a Kashmiri Pandit living in the northern district of Baramulla told Reuters.

The senior police official said the recent killings of members of minority communities were aimed at preventing the return of the Kashmiri Pandits. Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, appealed to minority community members not to flee, urging the local administration to provide better security.

“I believe these attacks are aimed to drive a wedge between the communities and to push them out of Kashmir,” Abdullah said, “We can’t let that happen.”