Srinagar/Jammu: Several political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have appealed for calm in the wake of protests against in Chinab region and Kashmir against remarks made by some now-expelled BJP leaders about Prophet of Islam (PBUH).
Minister of State (Mos) in the Prime Minister’s office and Member of Parliament from Udhampur, Dr Jitendra Singh has expressed concern over the situation in Bhaderwah town of Doda district after communal clashes and urged the leaders of both the communities to maintain peace and harmony.
“I am deeply disturbed by the unpleasant situation that developed in Bhaderwah yesterday. I humbly appeal to the elders and the heads of the two communities to sit together to maintain the traditional harmony for which the beautiful town of Bhaderwah has always been known” Dr Jitendra Singh tweeted.
Jitendra Singh’s reaction came amid communal tensions in the area on Thursday night following alleged hate speeches.
Curfew was imposed in Bhaderwah town of Jammu’s Doda district on Thursday night after the communal flare up.
The Minister said, “I am in constant touch with DC Doda Sh Vikas Sharma and Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar. DC Doda and SSP Doda are presently camping in Bhaderwah and personally monitoring the situation”.
Former J&K Chief Minister and JKNC vice president, Omar Abdullah also appealed to the people to maintain calm.
Taking to Twitter, Omar Abdullah said, “I hope cooler heads prevail. Jammu and Kashmir has enough problems without adding to them with communal tension spreading in and around Bhadarwah. I appeal to everyone to maintain calm and ask my party colleagues to help normalise the situation at the earliest.”
The Aam Aadmi Party also condemned attempts of certain vested interests to create a communal divide for political motives in Jammu and Kashmir and appealed to people not to fall prey to such divisive forces.
Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) too appealed to people to maintain peace and communal harmony.
“We have an age-old history of communal harmony and brotherhood which can’t be allowed to be subverted by reckless politicians for promoting their narrow parochial political interests,” AAP leader and former minister Harsh Dev Singh said.
Flaying the reports of communal tension in Bhaderwah and Kishtwar, Singh urged the people not to fall prey to nefarious designs of disruptive forces.
“Vested political interests are engineering communal divide in J&K,” he alleged.
“We need to unite to face the onslaught of the enemy rather than falling in the trap of opportunist politicians. We have to give the message of unity and brotherhood. The freedom that we obtained is the result of the united struggle of people belonging to various religious faiths,” Singh said.
“We cannot trivialise the supreme sacrifice of our valiant jawans and freedom fighters by resorting to hate campaigns and communal violence engineered by vested interests,” he said.
Cautioning the vested political interests to refrain from fishing in the troubled waters of J&K, Singh said people will not tolerate their attempts of creating communal polarisation for vote bank politics.
“Faith and politics should be kept separate. This general rule needs to be followed by all in the interests of the nation and public good. It was generally believed that most sinister and ominous parties were those which used religion and gods to control the people and to achieve power,” he said.
Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) expressed serious concern over the prevailing situation in Bhadarwah town and appealed to people to play their crucial role in combating growing tendencies of intolerance and hate.
It said that societal renaissance holds the key to bind communities and regions together, especially in a diverse state like Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing media persons here, Arun Gupta, president, JCCI, said that the situation in Bhadarwah is grave.
“A well-planned conspiracy was hatched by some unscrupulous elements to divide the people and make them fight (against) each other to destroy century-old communal harmony and brotherhood of the people of the town,” he said.
He urged the people to remain vigilant from anti-national elements who are trying to create a wedge between the communities for their vested interests.
Cautioning against machinations of straining the time tested inclusive and pluralistic ethos of Jammu, senior BJP leader and former NC MLA Devender Singh Rana on Friday called for identifying, exposing and isolating the elements inimical to peace and tranquility.
“Jammu’s tryst with harmony is strong enough to withstand the vicious onslaught of hate mongers”, Rana said while interacting with the people at Palpad during his visit to the area.
He said pluralistic Jammu’s ethos of inclusiveness and harmony is the strong citadel against forces who want to disturb the secular fabric of the region.
Rana said the people, irrespective of region and religion, are sagacious enough to see through the attempts of dividing the society and resolute enough to thwart the designs of peace-breakers by maintaining unity and brotherhood.
