JKNPP delegation meets Union Home Minister;Don’t push people of Jammu region to the wall: Harsh

harsh STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Appealing to the Union Home Minister to visit Jammu to take stock of the current socio-politico-economic situation in this part of the State, Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman JKNPP and former Minister, urged on Raj Nath Singh to hold meetings with different sections of civil society, social and political groups on the analogy of Kashmir. Heading a delegation of JKNPP which called upon the Union Home Minister in Srinagar on Thursday, Singh said that though Kashmir deserved the priority attention of the GoI but the other regions of the State particularly Jammu could not be ignored as it too was bearing the brunt of Kashmir turmoil and had suffered immensely socially and economically.
While seeking proactive measures to tide over the Kashmir crisis, Singh called for due consideration for the aspirations of Jammu and Ladakh regions so as to avoid any regional rupture on religious lines.
Apprising the Union Home Minister of the persistent neglect and dis-regard of Jammu region by successive governments, Singh cautioned that the summering unrest and discontent here should not be viewed non seriously by the Union Government. He said that the government apathy towards the issues of border area inhabitants, POJK migrants, West Pak refugees, power and water crisis, tourism, unemployment issue, delimitation exercise to end regional bias besides other Jammu related issues had created a lot of resentment amongst the people of Jammu. He said that Jammu region had not only been bearing the brunt of frequent Pak mis-adventures on the borders resulting in large scale loss of life and property but huge infiltration from across IB and LoC had largely threatened peace in the region.
He said that Pak sponsored militancy had spread its tentacles to various districts of Jammu region and subversive elements aided and abetted from across the borders were out to disturb our pluralistic ethos and the age old culture of communal harmony.
He further pointed out that Jammu had suffered immensely economically as well as in view of business losses worth hundreds of crores sustained by traders during the last 47 days besides loss in tourism and employment sectors. Singh said that people of Jammu region who had given an overwhelming support to BJP with 25 MLAs, upon the assurance that all sorts injustice and discrimination against Jammu region would be undone were feeling betrayed and cheated. He said that non inclusion of the Jammu related issues in the Agenda of Alliance had hit the self esteem of the Dogras who felt that BJP-PDP combine was another obnoxious move to subjugate Jammu region.
Harsh further apprised the Union Home Minister of the general disenchantment amongst the common masses in the wake of non governance, non development, corruption and lack of accountability. He pointed towards the pathetic plight of daily wagers and casual workers of various government departments including PHE, R&B, M and RE, forests etc who remained unpaid for months together. He made a particular mention of the contractual and academic arrangement lecturers in schools and colleges having Ph.D and M.Phil degrees who were being paid negligible honorarium of Rs. 7,000 for the last 12 years and described the same as worst form of human rights violation besides exploitation of the highly educated youth.
Expressing concern over the fast deteriorating situation in the Valley, Singh said that any move or statement to demoralise the security forces could adversely impact upon the normalization process. He said that State and Union Government representatives must refrain from appeasement of separatists as it acted like a booster doze emboldening them in their ‘hate India’ campaign. He said that J and K could not be allowed to become a hostage to the whims and fancies of the separatists and anti nationals and urged for stern measures to deal with such saboteurs and disruptive forces. Singh said that GoI must prevail upon the international community including the IMF, World Bank, etc to impose sanctions upon the rogue country and ostracise Pakistan completely in order to restore and sustain peace and tranquillity in the region.
Others who comprised the delegation included Gagan Partap Singh and Maqbool Malik.