Srinagar/Jammu: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has sought an appointment with Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to raise the issue of safety and security of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, a spokesperson said here on Saturday.
Briefing reporters outside the residence of the PAGD president Farooq Abdullah after a meeting of the group, spokesperson M Y Tarigami, said the killing of Kashmiri Pandit government employee Rahul Bhat in Budgam has shaken the Kashmiri society.
Bhat, who had got the job of a clerk under the special employment package for migrants in 2010-11, was gunned down by terrorists inside the tehsil office in Chadoora town on Thursday.
“A delegation of Kashmiri Pandits wanted to place its concerns before the PAGD. They met us and we told them that as far as we and the people are concerned, this painful story has now become a routine of the day here, but Rahul’s killing has shaken us,” Tarigami, who is also a senior leader of the CPI(M), said.
Tarigami said the killing has troubled the whole society and the people of Kashmir are with their pandit brethren in this time of grief.
“We appeal all the people that it is our tradition in Kashmir that even when the whole sub-continent was burning in 1947, Kashmir was the only place where no one faced any difficulty. It is our misfortune that Kashmir has become a troubled place for the people living here,” he said.
“We appeal to everyone to keep Kashmir’s traditions of brotherhood alive as our security lies with each other and whatever can be done from our side, we will surely do it. But, the responsibility lies with the government. They have created a narrative that there is normalcy in Kashmir even if ten people are killed,” Tarigami said.
He said the amalgam has decided to meet Sinha and take up the issue with him.
“As an immediate measure, we have approached Raj Bhavan for a meeting of the PAGD leadership – Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Muzaffar Shah and me – with J&K’s LG and we will tell him to resolve the issues. He says a lot on radio and TV, let him do something on the ground,” Tarigami said.
“We will tell the government to check in a mirror whether there is normalcy on the ground or not and see with your eyes open. We will also tell the government to provide security to the Kashmiri Pandits and others as well.”
“For that, it is important that Kashmiri Pandit employees get an opportunity to work in a secure atmosphere, at a safe place so that their fears get over and they become confident,” he added.
The PAGD spokesperson said the alliance will also tell Sinha that the use of batons on Kashmiri Pandits during a protest on Friday at Budgam was very unfortunate.
“They had come out to mourn, they had come out with an appeal, they wanted to share their pain, but you lathicharged them as well. This is unfortunate. The use of batons in Kashmir should stop,” Tarigami said.
Meanwhile, with the BJP facing the ire of Kashmiri migrant employees serving in the valley after their colleague was killed by terrorists, the party’s J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina on Saturday said he has briefed Union Home Minister Amit Shah about their “concerns and problems”.
Raina said he had also spoken to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and is again leading a party delegation to meet him at Srinagar on Sunday as “it is the responsibility of the government to provide a secure and safe environment to the nationalists, whether Muslims, Sikhs or Hindus who are upholding the tricolour”.
The BJP leader along with his colleagues was heckled by the Kashmiri migrant pandit community at the cremation of Rahul Bhat here on Friday.
“I spoke to the home minister on Friday and briefed him about the concerns and problems being faced by the Kashmiri pandits serving in the valley under the Prime Minister’s employment package,” Raina told reporters here.
He said it is the responsibility of the government to provide a ”safe and secure” environment and provide all facilities to the nationalists who are keeping the tricolour aloft in the valley, whether they are Muslims, Sikhs or Hindus.
The latest killing of Bhat and Special Police Officer (SPO) Riyaz Ahmad Thokar (on Friday) shows the barbaric face of terrorism which needs to end, the BJP leader said.
Regretting the lathi-charge on Kashmiri pandit protestors during their march towards Srinagar airport from Sheikhpora camp, Raina said he held a series of meetings with political, religious and social leaders from the community and “I am of the opinion that their concerns and problems are genuine”.
“I raised the issue with the Lt Governor (on Friday) and am again heading a high-level BJP delegation to meet him at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar on Sunday. We will discuss all issues of minorities living in the valley besides Gujjars and Bakerwals and Pahari speaking people,” he said.
He said the Kashmiri pandits are “grief-stricken and angry and we have to address all their genuine concerns and problems.”
Raina said there is also a dire need to talk to the Kashmiri pandits and no need for the use of force.
“It is our responsibility to meet their aspirations and make arrangements for their absolute security. It is our prime responsibility to ensure the security of every nationalist community and we will press with full force all the issues before the LG,” he said.
