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Letters Targeting Kashmiri Pandits Surface on Social Media

The letters have revived memories of “hit lists” that Islamist militant groups issued in 1989-90.

An abandoned house belonging to Kashmiri Pandits in Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Letters threatening Kashmiri Pandits that surfaced on social media in August have set off a wave of panic among members of the community living in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). They have revived memories of the “hit lists” and assassinations that forced around 350,000 Pandits to flee the Kashmir valley over 36 years ago.

Three letters, all issued in the name of the United Liberation Council (ULC), said to be a front organization of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, have surfaced on social media so far. The most recent letter, dated August 27, was explicitly linked to the Indian government reopening investigations into the massacre of Pandits by Islamist militants at the height of the anti-India militancy in the 1990s.

“If the SIA [State Investigation Agency of J&K] or any other agency is so eager to reopen closed cases involving migrant Pandits, they should also investigate cases like Bijebehara, Gawkadal, Sopore, Handwara, etc., where the so-called Indian mercenary security forces deliberately opened fire on innocent Kashmiris,” the letter said. “We will slaughter all those involved in these crimes no matter how much security they have.”

The first letter, dated August 7, named six Pandits working in the J&K government’s revenue department and included their cell phone numbers. It called on them to “change their ways.” The second letter, dated August 23, named six more Pandits and provided their residential addresses, including house numbers and street names. It described them as “white collar terrorists” and “traitors,” working for their “masters” in Delhi.

The letter’s contents were ominous. “Wherever you are and wherever you go, we are watching your every move,” it said. While the August 7 letter named Pandits working in the valley, the August 23 post listed Pandits in Jammu.

Kashmiri Pandits are Hindus and indigenous to the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley. At the start of the militancy in 1989-1990, several Pandits, including Tika Lal Taploo, Neelkanth Ganjoo, Sarwanand Koul Premi and Virender Koul were assassinated. Sarla Bhat, a nurse, was abducted, raped and killed. Although militants claimed they were killed for their links to the Indian state – Taploo was a politician and Ganjoo was a high court judge—amid the rising tide of Islamism in Kashmir, it caused immense fear among the Pandits.

In an article I wrote for The Diplomat in 2020, I recounted what Ashok Dhar, a Pandit previously living in Baramulla in the valley, told me about what happened in 1989-90. “It was evident that Kashmiri Muslims wanted us to leave the Valley,” he recalled. Militant groups like the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and the Hizbul Mujahideen brought out “hit lists” with names of Pandits to be eliminated. People shouted anti-Pandit slogans in mosques and at rallies. “They wanted sharia rule in Kashmir,” Dhar said, adding that Pandits were given a choice to convert to Islam or leave the valley.

Around 70,000 Pandit families comprising over 350,000 women, men,........

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