A Kashmiri Pandit woman devotee holds incense as she prays at the temple during the annual Hindu festival of the Kheer Bhawani on May 28, 2023 in Tullmull, 25 km east of Srinagar. Large numbers of Indian government forces were deployed in the area for the safety of Kashmiri Pandit pilgrims to pay obeisance at the revered Kheer Bhawani temple in the Ganderbal district. Thousands of Pandit (Hindu) devotees visit the Spring every year with plates of sugar and milk and other sweets to pay homage to the Goddess Kheer Bhawani. Some 200,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled the region in the early nineties at the start of an insurgency against Indian rule, mainly to the Hindu-dominated southern city of Jammu. Police say militants are attacking Pandits who returned as part of various rehabilitation schemes launched by the government.
Yawar Nazir