A Kashmiri Pandit migrant employees’ group which led a 10-month job strike demanding relocation to Jammu in the face of targeted killings by militants suspended the protest on Saturday, claiming the agitators were financially broke as the government had struck back by withholding their salaries.

The Pandit employees, who had stopped work and shifted to Jammu, said the government had choked them financially by failing to pay their salaries for months, leaving them with no option but to “surrender”.

The Pandit protests, which ran for 310 days, had become a national embarrassment for the BJP government at the Centre with the agitators raising slogans against the top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and questioning the regime’s claims of normality. But they faced an unusually tough government that did not relent.

It was the first time since the 2019 scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status that members of the Hindu Pandit community, which has resolutely backed the BJP government at the Centre, were dealt with an iron hand, a policy otherwise reserved for the majority Muslims.

“You choked him (migrant employees) and harmed his family. You left him on the road, never listened to his heart. We are powerless, have no say in the power corridors. You highlighted (exploited) our weakness. All (migrant Pandit) employees are today surrendering before the government,” Rubon Saproo, who heads the All Migrant Displaced Employees Association, Kashmir, told reporters in Jammu.

Nearly 6,000 displaced Pandits, appointed under the Prime Minister’s relief-and-rehabilitation policy, had left Kashmir after the killing of their colleague Rahul Bhat in May, which was followed by other targeted killings.

The policy was launched by the Manmohan Singh government and continued by the current dispensation.

The employees have since been protesting for relocation to Jammu, accusing the government of failure to secure their lives.

Government sources said hundreds of employees had quietly returned to the Valley over the past few months after their salaries were withheld, leading to chinks in their unity.

The Pandit employees on Saturday wore gloomy faces as they announced their “surrender” and “unfortunate decision”.

The employees’ leaders said they were “suspending” their protest but no decision had so far been taken whether they would resume their duties in the Valley.

“We are willing to return but we want the government to ensure fool-proof security for us. Everybody knows how risky it is to go back. The killings have not stopped. Also, none of us should be targeted for leading the protests,” an employee said.

Militants last week killed a Kashmiri Pandit, Sanjay Pandita, in Pulwama district, the first targeted killing of a Pandit in four months. Hundreds of Muslims took part in a candlelight protest against the killing. He was among hundreds of Pandits who never migrated.

The Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, which represents resident Pandits, has accused local Muslims of collaborating with militants to kill Pandits and said the killers join “the wailing crowds in stealth mode by giving statements about Kashmiriyat and join candlelight marches”.

“Islamic countries and scholars repeatedly claim that terror doesn’t have a religion, but they need to see in Kashmir that here it not only has a religion but a face too,” KPSS leader Sanjay Tickoo had said.

Saproo recalled how the Pandit employees had staged protests in “sunlight and rain”, given their “blood to protests”, sometimes barefooted and at night.

“Our parents, organisations and the political leadership supported our protests as legitimate. But what happened with the employees was unfortunate,” he said.

Saproo said the government ignored the protesters’ primary demand, for relocation, and chose instead to withhold their salaries.

“We are surrendering before the Union Territory administration. Our sentiments are hurt. Our hearts are bleeding. I apologise to the employees (for backing off), although we tried our best to get our issues resolved,” he said.

He said it was up to the government to decide its future course of action.

“We have put a comma, not a full stop. The administration must understand the pain & agony through which #KashmiriPandit employees (PM Package) are facing & the fear through which they are going,” the Association said in a tweet.