STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Reserved Category employees who fled Kashmir following last year’s targeted killings of their colleagues announced on Friday the suspension of their 290-day strike seeking relocation away from the Valley.
Reserved Category Employees’ Association leader Kuldeep Kumar said the decision to suspend the strike was taken after a 10-member coordination committee held several rounds of talks with the Lt Governor-led administration over the past two weeks.
The decision to suspend the agitation comes a fortnight after Kashmiri Pandits employed in the Valley under the Prime Minister’s package also announced the suspension of their 310-day agitation. A majority of them have already resumed their duties in Kashmir.
Hundreds of Reserved Category employees who hail from Jammu and migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees in the Valley fled to the Union Territory’s winter capital last May following the killing of Rajini Bala and Rahul Bhat by terrorists.
While Bhat was shot dead in his office in central Kashmir’s Budgam on May 12, schoolteacher Bala was gunned down in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on May 31.
“Most of the 3,500 Reserved Category employees have already served in the Valley for over 15 years and we want the government to come out with a transfer policy, along with addressing our security concerns and appropriate accommodation,” Kumar told PTI.
He said the organisation decided to suspend the agitation for the time being on the assurance of the administration that all their issues would be addressed in a time-bound manner. “The talks with the administration are going on and we are hopeful of a positive outcome. The next course of action depends on the outcome of the dialogue,” he said.