Shopian: Kashmiri Pandit employees block Jammu Poonch highway during a protest against alleged killing of Kashmiri Pandit Puran Bhat, in Shopian district, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (PTI Photo) (Representative Image)
New Delhi: The Home Ministry said on Wednesday that a total of 14 people belonging to minorities including three Kashmiri Pandits have been killed in terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir this year till November 30. There was, however, no migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in the last five years.
The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in the Rajya Sabha.
In a written reply to a question, the Minister also said that there were certain media reports of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti that expressed concern over the safety of the Kashmiri Pandits.
“The government has a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and the security situation has improved significantly in Jammu and Kashmir. There has been substantial decline in terrorist attacks from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021,” the reply said.
Rai also said that a number of measures have been undertaken to protect the lives of the minorities. Some of the steps include area domination, cordon and search operation, etc.
Besides, the Minister said, a robust security and intelligence grid is active to foil any attempts of terror attacks.
He further said that under the Prime Minister’s Development Package, a total of 3,000 employment opportunities were generated for the Kashmiri migrants, adding 2,369 of them have already been provided jobs in the last five years.
This post was last modified on December 8, 2022 1:11 am