Jammu: Despite Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s ‘loud and clear’ message to the Kashmiri Pandit and Reserved Category employees to resume their duties in Kashmir, the Bhartiya Janta Party is asserting that a transfer policy on the relocation of employees to Jammu will have to be made at ‘any cost’.
“We will not allow the Kashmiri Pandits and Reserved Category employees to become scapegoats”, said BJP J&K president Ravinder Raina while addressing a crowd of agitating employees who had gathered outside the party office Friday afternoon to protest. Earlier, on Thursday, a similar group of reserved category employees had also protested outside the BJP office and they also got a similar assurance from party functionaries.
The employees from the Kashmiri Pandit and Dogra Scheduled Caste communities from Jammu have been protesting since August demanding their relocation to Jammu region after some of their colleagues died in targeted killings by terrorists in various parts of Kashmir. The terrorists have since been threatening the Kashmiri Pandit employees by releasing their ‘hit lists’.
On Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said in no uncertain terms that the employees will have to report their duties in Kashmir to claim their salaries. He said, these (protesting) employees belong to the posts in Kashmir division and they will have to work there.
Sinha had made the remark amid the ongoing protest by migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees and Jammu-based reserved category employees who left the Valley for Jammu in May following the targeted killings of their two colleagues Rahul Bhat and Rajni Bhalla. The protesting employees have been seeking relocation outside Kashmir.
Sinha’s statement triggered outrage among the Kashmiri Pandits who launched a renewed round of protests against the government.
Ravinder Raina called upon the Lieutenant Governor invite a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits at Raj Bhawan to listen to their grievances. “The Lieutenant Governor is accessible, he listens to the grievances of all sorts of people. He should also listen to the grievances of Kashmiri Pandits”, Raina said during his public address.
The BJP leader said that he has spoken to the senior party leaders in Delhi and has apprised them of the situation. “Tomorrow, two senior party leaders, including General Secretary Tarun Chugh, are arriving in Jammu to meet the agitating Kashmiri Pandits”. “If need arises, we will take a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits to Delhi for meeting with functionaries of the party and the government”, he further said.
On Thursday also, the BJP had said transfer policy will be framed and no one from Jammu be made “guinea pig” in wake of selective killings in Kashmir.
“Come what may, transfer policy will be framed. We will make it happen or else will leave,” senior BJP leader Devender Rana had told protesting employees outside the BJP headquarters.
Referring to the protesting reserved category employees who are also camping in Jammu and demanding their relocation, Lt Governor Sinha on Wednesday said, “They should also keep in mind that they are Kashmir division employees and cannot be transferred to Jammu.”
Flanked by BJP leaders including former deputy chief minister and Jammu Mayor, Kavinder Gupta, Rana said, “We promise you that transfer policy will be framed. BJP stands with you. Don’t think you are week”.
In a strong remark, BJP leaders said that no person from Jammu will be made “guinea pigs.” “Any person from Jammu will not be a guinea pig. It is not a matter of policy, but it is a matter of responsibility. We cannot step back on this responsibility,” Rana said.
Former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta also said that the demand of the protesting employees will be fulfilled. He said the J & K administration has full sympathy with them and is ready to provide them security or any other assistance. He also said that the chief secretary has framed a committee to look into their demand. “And I assure them that if there is any chance, we will frame a policy accordingly.”
Fresh Protests
Angered over Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s remarks about stopping their salaries, Dogra and Kashmiri Pandit employees on Thursday intensified their months-long protest demanding a transfer from the Valley in the wake of the targeted killings by terrorists in Kashmir.
In their response to the LG’s remark, the employees made it clear to the government that they will not return to Kashmir until their demands for transfer policy and relocation are not addressed.
Dogra employees assembled under the banner of “All Jammu-based Reserved Categories Employees Association” at the BJP headquarters office here and staged a sit-in to press on their demand for framing a policy under which they should be transferred from the Valley to their home districts in the Jammu region.
“Let them stop salaries. Unless our demand for framing of transfer policy is made no one will join. Salaries are not more important than life”, one of the protesters told reporters here.
Expressing her concern over the LG’s remarks, she said he as a constitutional head violated the law to frame the committee to give recommendations on transfer policy in a time-bound manner, but now he is saying that they are employees of Kashmir valley.
The Dogras and Kashmiri Pandits employees returned to Jammu following the killing of their colleague Rajni Bala. A resident of Samba district, Bala was shot dead by terrorists at a school in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on May 31.
Lashing at BJP, the protestors said that they should come out of their rooms and join our struggle as they had promised us that a transfer policy will be put in place to address their demand.
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