As dozens of Kashmiri Pandits staged protests against the killing of Rahul Bhat by suspected militants in Budgam’s Chadoora, local Muslims yet again came forward and displayed an example of communal harmony in the region.
The protesting Kashmiri Pandits said that the administration has failed to provide security to the Kashmiri Pandit community. “The administration should accept that there’s complete failure on its part. Had it not been for the Muslim brothers, we would have all fled the valley,” a protesting Kashmiri Pandit said.
He said that the entire community is anguished at the killing and they demand that such killings stop. But it seems that the administration is doing nothing beyond making claims, he said.
Eyewitnesses told The Kashmiriyat that the women of the area supplied water to the protesting Pandits and the men joined the sit-in protest right outside the migrant colony in central Kashmir’s Budgam.
“Muslims from Sheikhpora Budgam have been supplying water to the protesters who have been sitting in the scorching heat since the morning. We are grateful to them and appreciate their effort,” a Kashmiri Pandit said.
Another Kashmiri Pandit, Sandeep Raina said that Kashmiri Pandits belong to the valley and that the local Muslims have always been supportive of them “They’re always there for us, in our sadness and in our happiness,“ Sandeep told.
Raising serious questions on what he called the failure of the Government, Sandeep asked, “They failed to save Rahul inside a Government office, How do we expect them to save us when we are outside?”
The local Muslims stand with Pandits in the hour of grief. “We (Local Muslims) will make all the arrangements for them as long as the sit-in protest continues,”