The murder of Satish Kumar Singh, a father of three young girls, in Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday evening has devastated his family.
Singh, a driver who was lacerated with bullets at his home in Kakran village by suspected militants, was the sole bread-winner of the family, which has his aged mother, wife and daughters Sakshi, Senoni and Menakshi, aged seven to 12. He took special care of Sakshi, who has a disability.
The family is part of a small community of Rajputs originally from Jammu who made Kashmir their abode several generations ago.
“We never left this place, never even thought of leaving. But there is a lot of fear after the killing. We heard there was some message doing the rounds on Facebook that they (militants) would spare none,” Anil Kumar, Singh’s brother, told The Telegraph.
A little-known militant group, the Lashkar-e-Islam, has warned Hindus to leave Kashmir.For the less than a dozen Rajput families living in Kakran village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam, who unlike many Kashmiri Pandits chose to stay back even in the worst of times, the attack is a shock.
“We were never targeted before but things started changing some two-three years back,” Anil, a farmer, said. “A lot of our neighbours (Muslims) visited us and helped us in the cremation (of Singh). They also feel helpless,” he added.
Hundreds of Muslim neighbours on Thursday visited Singh’s home.
“They are a very poor family and he did nothing to deserve death. This should have never happened,” a Muslim neighbour told reporters.
Abdul Rahman, Singh’s shopkeeper friend, said around a dozen Rajput families lived in the village when militancy reared its head.
“Of them, two or three migrated in 1990. Their mother tongue is Dogri (the language of Jammu’s Hindus) but they were more fluent than us in Kashmiri. They have completely assimilated in the population,” Rahman said.
“He was my close friend. They were also confident that they will never be targeted.”
Communist veteran Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who represented Kulgam in the Assembly, called it a heinous crime.
“The killing of Singh has shaken the entire population of the area. No words are enough to condemn such barbaric acts which only suit the enemies of Kashmir and its ethos of tolerance and brotherhood,” Tarigami said.