Omkar Dattatray
It is the height of discrimination and injustice that the package employees are required to sign a bond to the effect that they cannot claim transfer to other erstwhile parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. J&K is not a state since 5th August 2019, the day of the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Thus the signing of the bond by the package employees has no meaning and justification as it is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and void. The bond needs to be revoked retrospectively to give a level playing field to the PM package employees. After the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, there is no need for the signing of the bond by the package employees at the time of their appointment and the bond does not hold water. So, the bond needs to be revoked to eliminate discrimination and human rights violation. It is the worst kind of the human rights violation that the package employees are required to sign a bond at the time of their appointment and it is the height of discrimination with these hapless employees whose services are subject to this illegal bond and there is urgent need to revoke it in the interest of fair play and justice. But the government seems reluctant to revoke the bond and wants that these unfortunate employees should work for their entire service carrier in Kashmir valley and this is the height of the human rights violation. One fails to understand and appreciate that when NDA led BJP government has repealed the controversial article 370 of the Indian constitution after over 70 years of its inception, so why is the BJP government feeling shy of revoking the illegal, unconstitutional and most discriminatory bond which the package employees are required to sign at the time of their appointment. This gross injustice and discrimination needs to be rectified and so this bond needs to be revoked forthwith and a level playing field ensured for the package employees so that these employees also work in a free environment and without any discrimination. For this it is mandatory that the signing of the bond by the package employees should be shelved in the interest of fair play and justice so that the package employees also feel justice and work in an environment free from discrimination. The bond in question needs to be annulled in the interest of equity and justice to the package employees. The package employees are required to work like bonded labours and they are debarred to apply for the transfer to other division of the Jammu and Kashmir and this is sheer injustice and discrimination and signing of the bond as such should be dispensed with for the cause of justice and fair play. The PM special employment package is basically and essentially an economic package and it as such is not a rehabilitation package but the successive governments have made it a rehabilitation package which is a deceit with the package because by virtue of the bond the package employees are required to work for their entire service in Kashmir and it is injustice and unconstitutional and so the need is that the signing of the bond at the time of the appointment of the package employees should be done away with in the interest of equality and justice. The package employees, Kashmiri Pandits, other Hindu employees belonging to Jammu division and the non local labourers are not allowed to leave Kashmir for the safety and security to their precious lives as life is the first priority for these hapless ones. There are reports that the Kashmiri Pandits and other non-local labourers are not allowed to migrate to Jammu and other safer places and the Kashmiri Pandit colonies have been sealed and this is the gross human rights violation. Its cognizance should be taken by the state and central minority commission as well as a sue motto cognizance of the human rights violation should be taken by the High court of the Jammu and Kashmir UT and order that the package employees and other non-locals and the Kashmiri Pandits be allowed to migrate to Jammu and other safer places for the safety to their life, limb and dignity. The High court should take a sue motto cognizance of the signing of the bond by the package employees and order that the signing of the bond should be dispensed with immediately so that justice is met with the package employees. Moreover the employment package should not be construed as the return and rehabilitation package and doing so is sheer injustice with the package employees and the Kashmiri Pandits and the only way is to order the revocation of the signing of the bond by the package employees at the time of their appointment. The package employees and other Hindu employees of Jammu and the non local labourers are living and working under perpetual threat to their precious lives as they are working at the cost of their lives. The package employees, Hindu employees from Jammu, non-local labourers and the Kashmiri Pandits are being selectively targeted by the terrorists and many of them have been targeted and killed under a well knit plan to engineer their exodus to Jammu and other places for the safety to their lives. But the centre government of BJP and LG administration of UT is not allowing their migration to safer places of Jammu and other states of India. Nor is the government giving fool proof security to Pandits, package employees, category employees belonging to Jammu working in Kashmir and the non local labourers working in Kashmir. Government is only making fake assurances of security to these hapless people but in practical and on ground fail to provide security to them. The local SHOs are asking the package employees not to come to Kashmir for the time being and remain at Jammu and in such an atmosphere the package employees, Hindu employees from Jammu and non locals cannot work in Kashmir and they should be allowed to leave Kashmir for the time being in order to save their lives. The situation in Kashmir is not conducive and feasible for living and working in Kashmir of the package employees, Hindu employees from Jammu and the non locals and the Kashmiri Pandits and so they should be allowed to migrate temporarily to Jammu and other safer places outside Jammu so that they are saved from the targeted killings by the terrorists. When the executive police is asking the package employees not to come to Kashmir for the time being, it points to the very grim position of security in Kashmir and so the package employees and the employees from Jammu should be allowed to work from home till the situation becomes normal in Kashmir. Coming back to the practice of signing of the bond by the package employees, it is needed that such a bond should be dispensed with and as early as possible it should be revoked for the furtherance of justice and fair play. The signing of the bond should not be made prerequisite for the appointment in the prime ministers package for Kashmiri Pandits and sooner than later the requirement of the signing of the bond should be dispensed with so that there is no discrimination with the package employees. The article 21 of the constitution dealing with the right to life and personal liberty of the citizens should not be violated in case of the Kashmiri Pandits, package employees, Hindu employees from Jammu and non local labourers and others. Therefore the package employees and other such citizens working in Kashmir should not be deprived of the rights delineated in article 21 of the constitution which deals with the right to life and liberty. So no one and more so the government can deny the rights given to citizens under article 21 and thus there should be no violation of this article. To conclude we can say that the signing of the bond at the time of the appointment under the PM package for Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus should be revoked forth with to provide the chances of their transfer to both divisions of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus the package employees should not be debarred from the right to transfer to all the places of Jammu and Kashmir and for this the basic requirement is that the signing of the bond at the time of the appointment should be revoked immediately for giving justice to the package employees.
(The author is a retired Education Officer and Social Activist).