The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Tuesday raided eight locations across central Kashmir while investigating the 1990 killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat.
Officials said the searches targeted the residences of individuals formerly associated with the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Among those was the home of former JKLF leader Peer Noorul Haq Shah, also known as "Air Marshal." The SIA said the operation recovered "incriminating evidence," including documents and digital data, which investigators believe will help unravel the conspiracy behind the murder.
The SIA took over the investigation last year after the original police probe failed to identify the perpetrators. The agency said its renewed efforts are the Jammu and Kashmir administration's resolve to bring the culprits of "heinous terror acts" to justice even decades later.
The Murder Of Sarla Bhat
On April 18, 1990, terrorists kidnapped 27-year-old Sarla Bhat from the Habba Khatoon Hostel of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, Srinagar. An Anantnag resident and a nurse at SKIMS, Ms Bhat had openly defied militant diktats ordering Kashmiri Pandits to quit government jobs and leave the Valley.
The terrorists shot her dead and dumped her body in Umar Colony, Mallabagh, downtown Srinagar. Her body bore multiple bullet wounds, and the killers left a note branding her as a "police informant".
Her murder occurred at the height of the Kashmir insurgency, when Pakistan-backed terrorists were systematically targeting Kashmiri Pandits to instil fear and force them into exile. Even after her death, her family was threatened and warned against attending her cremation.
Police registered FIR No. 56/1990 at Nigeen Police Station, but the case went cold for decades due to a lack of progress.
The 1990 Exodus Of Kashmiri Pandits
The murder of Sarla Bhat was one of many acts of terror that drove nearly the entire Kashmiri Pandit community out of the Valley in early 1990. Pakistan-backed groups such as the JKLF and Hizbul Mujahideen killed prominent Pandits, threatened families through mosque loudspeakers, and marked their houses for attacks.
Mosques across the Valley blared slogans calling for Nizam-e-Mustafa (Islamic rule) and warning Pandits to leave, convert to Islam, or face death. Terrorists circulated hit lists, targeted women with threats of kidnappings, and spread fear through gruesome killings. Within weeks, nearly 3-4 lakh Pandits fled to Jammu, Delhi, and other parts of India.
