STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: The newly setup panel of the BJP met on Thursday night to look into issues related to the protesting minority Hindu community employees working in Kashmir valley, and appealed Lieutenant Governor administration to release their salaries before Diwali as a humanitarian gesture.
Kashmiri Pandit and Dogra employees of the Union Territory administration are holding protests for past six months over targeted killings of non-muslims by terrorists, and demanded immediate relocation away from the Valley.
Lashing out at the administration, the protesters alleged that 7,000 employees belonging to minority communities, including Kashmiri Pandits, serving in the Valley “have been caged by the faulty and unconstitutional transfer policy” that did not allow them to transfer out of Kashmir.
The Committee headed by former Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh held its first meeting at BJP headquarters here.
The J-K BJP President Ravinder Raina presided over the meeting and discussed broader parameters of the committee, the BJP spokesperson said.
“Committee has meanwhile appealed the Union Territory administration to release salaries of employees before Diwali as a humanitarian gesture keeping up the secular traditions of the state,” he said.
The minority Hindu community employees working in Kashmir under Prime Minister’s package, non-package, all reserved categories and other vulnerable sections of the society are facing a serious threat to their lives, he said.
The committee recognizes the right of every citizen including these employees to a safe and secure life both at work place and at their lodging spaces, the spokesperson said.
The BJP has always been sensitive to the issues of masses and has taken up same with concerned authorities, he said.
“Committee has received a lot of inputs from the concerned people and are looking into it to find an appropriate way out. Committee has decided to interact with administration in order to have its feedback also,” he said.
The committee has invited responses and views of all the stake holders particularly employees, individually as well as collectively, the BJP spokesperson said.
It is also proposing to visit various places in Kashmir inhabited by the minority Hindu community to have a first-hand assessment of the prevailing situation before finalizing its report, he added.
The non-muslim employees had returned to Jammu following the killing of Rajni Bala, a schoolteacher in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on May 31. They have been denied salaries for past four months.
The employees’ associations also hit out at the administration and the BJP for their “lip service and condemnations” following each targeted killing without making efforts to stop them.
The terrorists are killing people from the minority Hindu communities and openly claiming responsibility. They are not only challenging the government but also creating fear psychosis, the protesting employees said.
Recently, Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on Saturday outside his ancestral house in the Chowdhary Gund area of the south Kashmir’s district, where he had gone to look after his orchards.