Pulwama attack: Kashmiri doctor asked to leave West Bengal or face consequences

Kolkata: A Kashmiri doctor, who has been living in Kolkata for 22 years, has claimed that he has been asked to leave the city or face “dire consequences” following the Pulwama strike that claimed the lives of 49 CRPF men.

The doctor, however, has decided to stay put after the West Bengal government came to his rescue.

The doctor, who did not wish to be named, said he was heckled but he had not paid much heed to the threats he had received initially. However, his concern grew when some men gathered outside his residence and threatened to harm his daughter unless he “returned to Pakistan”.

On February 15, a day after the Pulwama attack, five men aged between 20 and 25 years came to his house after he returned home from his chamber, the doctor said, adding that they asked him to leave the city immediately and “go back to Pakistan as Kashmiris have no place in this country”.

“I was heckled by those men and threatened with dire consequences. Initially, I ignored those threats as I had never faced such a situation here in 22 years. The next morning, while I was leaving for my hospital, I again saw those men standing outside my house. They threatened me and said If I did not leave the city, my daughter would pay a heavy price,” he said.

The doctor admitted that this time the threats sounded more serious and he even made up his mind to leave. However, before preparing to leave the city that he grew so fond of, the doctor tried reaching the West Bengal government as a last resort.