Jammu: The Congress and the DAP have lend their support to the Kashmiri Pandit employees who are on a protest here for over 200 days, demanding relocation from the Valley following a series of targeted killings by militants.
The Democratic Azad party (DAP) led by veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad reached out to the employees sitting on a dharna for the past 215 days at Relief Commissioner’s office here and assured its full support to them.
DAP leaders R S Chib and G M Saroori, who are former ministers, criticised the BJP and the LG administration for their alleged cold shoulder approach to “this grave human issue”.
Hitting at the BJP-led central government for allegedly failing the Kashmiri Pandits, the leaders said it should immediately take measures for the security and rehabilitation of the minority community in Kashmir.
“It has been several months that Kashmiri Pandits are protesting in Jammu. But the government seems unmoved. How long can the government be insensitive to their genuine demands,” Chib told reporters here.
He said DAP founder and chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad had vowed to work for the return and rehabilitation of the community with dignity and security if his party comes to power in J-K.
“But it is unfortunate that the BJP, which is making hue and cry across the country over Kashmiri Pandits and leaves no chance to politicise the issue for electoral gains, has failed to ensure their rehabilitation and security,” Saroori said.
DAP leader Salman Nizami said the party will continue to stand by the community and will keep raising its voices at every forum.
It is a gross violation of human rights that their salaries have been withheld, he said.
A congress delegation led by senior party leader Hira Lal Pandita, who visited the venue of the protest, batted strongly for the demand of the relocation of Pandit employees from the valley.
“We don’t want KP employees to be made sacrificial goats. On one side, terrorists issue hit lists against them and on other side, the administration stops their salaries,” Pandita said.
Kashmiri Pandit employees’ leader Yogesh Pandita said the government has turned a blind eye to their miseries.
The protest by Kashmiri migrant Pandits, employed under the Prime Minister’s package in the valley, intensified after their salaries were withheld by the administration.
“They have stopped our salaries and now came out with this suppressive order to break our protest. We want the government to give us an assurance that no Kashmiri Pandit will be targeted by terrorists in future and if it is not in a position to give such an assurance, please accept our demand and relocate us from outside Kashmir,” an employee leader said. PTI

  Kashmir 370

Press Trust of India