Protest in Jammu for relocation of Pandit employees from Valley

Jammu, November 12

An organisation here on Saturday held a protest for relocation of displaced Kashmiri Pandit employees from the Valley in the wake of selective killings. The protesters also demanded constitution of an apex committee, headed by the Union Home Minister, to formulate and implement the rehabilitation of KPs in Kashmir with security, honour and dignity.

Demand not met

• Pandits working under the PM special employment package in the Valley have been protesting for over six months demanding relocation to Jammu.
• During targeted killings in Valley, Hindu employees had migrated to Jammu and have been pressurising the government to accede to their demands.

Members of the Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS) said it was high time for the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to bring back the entire Kashmiri Hindu community living as refugees in various parts of the country to the Valley and rehabilitate them with security, honour and dignity. Led by YAIKS president RK Bhat, young men and women from the community raised slogans in support of their demands and held a protest near the Press Club in the city.

The protesters were carrying placards that read—We are refugees in our own country, struggle for existence continues, I am a Kashmiri Pandit, I love my identity and KP soul in exile.

Bhat said, “This is the right time for the Central Government to announce a comprehensive package for return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley.”

He said the entire Pandit community should return to the Valley along with the employees under the rehabilitation plan. “We demand setting up of an apex committee headed by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah for formulation of comprehensive road map on how Kashmiri Pandits will return and be rehabilitated in the Valley,” Bhat said.

He said it would be a true tribute to KP martyrs that the entire displaced community settles in Kashmir. Bhat alleged that the rehabilitation package for Kashmiri Pandits announced by the Centre a few years ago was an eyewash. “We urge government to restructure, redesign and revise this package by holding a proper dialogue with KP representatives immediately as a confidence building measure,” he said.

The Pandit employees working under the PM special employment package in the Valley have been protesting for the past over six months demanding relocation to Jammu.