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'Someone does not want us to return'
Onkar Singh in New Delhi |
March 24, 2003 10:10 IST
Over 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits living in migrant camps in Delhi have expressed outrage at the brutal killing on Sunday night of 24 Kashmiri Pandits in Nandimarg village in Pulwama district in Kashmir by suspected Pakistan-backed terrorists.
Eleven women, eleven men and two children were killed by militants dressed like policemen.
Panun Kashmir, an organisation representing Kashmiri Pandits in the capital, has summoned an emergency meeting of its executive.
Speaking to rediff.com, Vijay Tikoo, an office-bearers of Panun Kashmir, said the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits was shocking.
"The killings have exposed the claims made by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's government that all would be well in Kashmir if the state government provided a healing touch to its people. They were talking about moving Kashmiri pandits to safe locations in Kashmir. This is the kind of safety they were trying to give us," he said.
Dr Shakti Bhan, another Panun Kashmir leader, said both the state and the Centre treat "Kashmiri Pandits as canon fodder. We are still trying to gather information from our sources in Kashmir as to how this incident took place. But it seems that some unsuspecting Kashmiri Pandits fell into a trap and got killed."
She said it was a strange cooincident that whenever someone talks of taking Kashmiri Pandits back to Kashmir a massacre takes place.
"Someone does not want us to return to Kashmir. And that someone is directing terrorist operations from across the border," she said.