600 Pandits killed in IHK since 1990: KPSS

Srinagar, June 20 (KMS): Rejecting the authorities’ figures, Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) has claimed that 600 Pandits have been killed in occupied Kashmir since 1990.

The President of KPSS, Sanjay Tickoo, addressing the newsmen at Barbarshah in Srinagar, said it took them 18 months to prepare a data about the number of Pandits killed since 1990. “We have compiled cases of 399 killings in the first phase while the process is on,” he added.

He said that in the first ten months of 1990, more than 300 Pandits were killed. “In the months of May and June 1990, there have been 74 and 78 killings respectively. This means 152 Pandits were killed in just 60 days,” Tickoo maintained.

He said the issue of Pandits’ killings in the territory had lingered due to the non-cooperation of the police. “We want an independent probe into the murders. The guilty should be brought to book,” the KPSS President demanded.

It may be recalled that in March 2010, the puppet minister for Revenue, Raman Bhalla informed the Kashmir Assembly that 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in Valley since 1990.