Omkar Dattatray
Unfortunately the PM package migrant employees are in a confused state of mind as the LG administration is not paying any heed towards the genuine demand of their relocation outside Kashmir valley and wants them to work in the valley and risk their precious lives. The UT government apathy and indifference as well as reluctance lands these hapless employees in trouble as the government is hell bent to continue their posting in Kashmir come what may. Thus the government is not concerned with the safety and security of their lives and wants them to work across Kashmir in spite of threat of the targeted killings. So these employees are not asking for the moon but are only demanding their relocation for three years outside the Kashmir so that their precious lives are saved and they are able to work and perform their duties with dedication and this is possible only when these employees are relocated to Jammu division and outside the UT. Instead of remaining reluctant towards the only and the genuine demand of their relocation, the government should be pragmatic and practical and order their relocation temporarily outside the Kashmir in safe places so that there is no threat of the targeted killings and threat to their lives. There is need to delink the return and rehabilitation from the employment package so that the powers will not take the relocation of the package employees as the failure of the return and rehabilitation policy. The PM employment package is purely an economic package and it has to do nothing with the return and rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits. Employment package is a livelihood package and it should thus be delinked with the return and rehabilitation policy. Thus relocation of the package employees should not be construed with the failure of the return and rehabilitation policy. Therefore the hapless package employees should be relocated temporarily outside Kashmir so that there is no threat to their lives and at the same time they can perform their assigned duties with a sense of belongingness and dedication without any fear of the gun tottering youth. So the UT government should consider the genuine and the only demand of the relocation of the package employees to Jammu division so that there is no threat of the targeted killings and their life, limb and honour is saved. Across Kashmir valley these hapless employees are working under fear, duress and oppression and the targeted killings have created total fear psychosis in these employees and they are unable to work in Kashmir because of the mental trauma. There is depression, tension, dejection and frustration rite large on these employees and so they are demanding their relocation outside the valley so that they are saved. But the LG government is reluctant to accede the genuine and the only demand of these hapless employees of their relocation outside the valley. It is obvious that the government is only making these package employees as the sacrificial goats at the altar of the secular democracy of the country. The centre government of BJP and LG Government are busy in experimentation with this miniscule Pandit community and with its package employees and seem to be in no mood to accept the genuine demand of their relocation outside the Kashmir to Jammu division and outside the UT. The package employees have made it clear that they cannot work in Kashmir in the prevailing circumstances where there is fear of the gun looming large on their lives. These unfortunate employees are agitating from the last one month for their only demand of their relocation to Jammu and other nearby states but the government is not moved by the pathetic conditions of these hapless employees and wants that the package employees are sacrificed and so the government wants them to continue to perform their duties in Kashmir without considering the threat perception to their lives. The BJP government of the centre and the UT government should shun their rigid attitude and ego and accept the genuine demand of the package employees of their relocation outside the valley which only can satisfy their aspirations. If the government does not accept their demand of relocation outside the valley then they will become scapegoats and will be at great risk to their lives. The package employees have made it clear umpteen times that they cannot work across Kashmir valley as the fear of gun looms large in Kashmir and their lives are at stake and fear psychosis grippes these employees and so they be shifted to safer places outside the valley as their relocation temporarily outside the valley can fulfill their demand. So that government should concede their only and genuine demand of relocation outside the valley so that their life, limb and dignity are saved. Thus the BJP government of centre and the LG government of the UT should shun their rigid attitude and stand and order the relocation of these employees outside the valley so that they are saved from being targeted by the terrorists. But unfortunately the government seems reluctant towards the demand of the relocation of these employees so that there is no threat to their lives and at the same time they can perform their allotted duties without any fear and duress. In Kashmir these hapless creatures are working under perpetual fear of the gun and in such a situation they are unable to work in Kashmir because there is great risk to their lives and in such a surcharged atmosphere they cannot perform their duties across Kashmir valley because the threat of the targeted killings is there. Therefore these employees should not be forced to work under the threat of the targeted killings and so the best course is to shift these employees for the time being to Jammu division so that their lives are saved from the threat of the targeted killings. BJP is only politicizing on the Kashmiri Pandits and it uses them in accordance with their convenience and dumps them when they are not needed. BJP cares too hoots for the Kashmiri Pandits and more so for the package employees and they are only used for the vote bank politics in different states of India. Thus BJP seems not concerned to the demand of PM package employees and only wants them to work across Kashmir where they are being killed by the terrorists with sadistic pleasure. These hapless and unfortunate employees are becoming the targets of the gun tottering terrorists and there is no dearth of the cases where these employees are not made victims of the bullets of the terrorists. The government is forcing them to work under threat to their lives and it is the worst kind of human rights violation as these employees are made and forced to work under duress, fear oppression and they are working under continuous threat to their lives. These hapless employees have made it clear that they cannot work in Kashmir under the prevailing circumstances and so they demand their shifting outside the valley so that their life, limb and dignity is saved. But the government seems in no mood to accept their only and genuine demand of relocation outside the Kashmir. The BJP government of the centre is only politicising Kashmiri Pandits and its package employees and is not concerned with the welfare of the package employees. The BJPs normalcy balloon is punctured if it accepts the genuine demand of the relocation of the package employees. The package employees may be attached with the office of relief commissioner Jammu till the time normalcy is restored in Kashmir. Thus the package employees should be attached to the office of the Relief an d rehabilitation commissioner Jammu for three years so that at the opportune time they can be posted back in the Kashmir valley. The ground reality is totally not conducive for their living and working in Kashmir under the present circumstances and so they should be shifted to the office of the relief commissioner Jammu for the time being. These package employees should not be made cannon fodders to the guns of the terrorists and so the only feasible option is their relocation to Jammu division and outside UT in nearby States. In brief package employees are in a confused state of mind and so they deserve the utmost attention of the government so that their problems are mitigated.
(The author is a Columnist and Social Activist).