A Kashmir Pandit activist has been arrested for his alleged involvement in recent terrorist threats against Kashmiri Pandit employees in Jammu and Kashmir.
In August, panic gripped Kashmir Pandit employees in Kashmir after purported threat letters against some employees with their names and contact details were circulated. Following threats and safety concerns of Pandit employees, hundreds of employees appointed under the Prime Minister’s special employment scheme for Kashmiri Pandits were sent on administrative leave and asked to stay away from duties for almost three weeks.
“Police have got substantial and serious clues about his involvement. This led to massive protests by the PM package employees for seven months, demanding their transfer and posting at Jammu. they were shifted and posted at safer locations in Srinagar and other major towns of the valley While the government refused to post these employees in Jammu. Sources say despite repeated summons, Handoo failed to appear before police. “He was arrested from his Faridabad residence.
It’s not good for the community which has suffered due to terrorism, and now a community activist has been booked under cyber terrorism,” said Saraf, Lok Janshakti Party leader. Around 6,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been given government jobs under the Prime Minister’s special employment package rolled out in 2010. It was aimed at facilitating the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri pandits displaced from their homeland after the outbreak of the secessionist movement in 1990. In 2022, terrorists carried out targeted attacks, killing five Kashmiri Pandits. Police have said that the accused has been arrested for a non-bailable offence, according to the grounds of arrest served to Handoos’ wife on October 17. Initially, he was asked to appear before the police in Baramulla on September 26 after an FIR was registered on September 21. Handoo, a pandit activist had unsuccessfully contested the 2008 Assembly elections against National Conference President Farooq Abdullah from the Hazratbal constituency in Srinagar.
He has been booked under UAPA,” said Sujit Kumar, Inspector General of Police.
