Kashmiri Pandit employees seek PM's intervention on demand for relocation from Valley

Jammu, Dec 8: Striking Kashmiri Pandit employees on Thursday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention into their demand to be relocated from the Valley over targeted killings of non-muslims by terrorists. The fresh demand comes after a militant group recently released a "hit-list" of 56 employees from the community.

Recently, a blog linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, published a list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit employees under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package (PMRP), and warned of mounting attacks on them.

Kashmiri Pandit employees assembled under the banner of "The All Migrant (Displaced) Employees Association Kashmir (AMEAK)" at the relief commissioner's office here for the 211th day of the strike and staged a sit-in to press their demand for relocation from the Valley to Jammu. They raised slogans and displayed placards in support of the demand.

"We urge Prime Minister to look into our demand for relocation from the Valley in wake of the hit-lists of Kashmir Pandits issued by terrorist outfits and indifference of the government here," a protester told reporters here. He said the administration is rubbing salt in the wounds of the displaced employees instead of giving a healing touch and ensuring confidence building among the community.

On one side terrorists are killing Kashmir Pandits through selective and targeted pattern, issuing hit-lists against them, on the other side LG administration is issuing diktats against the employees to return to duties in Kashmir, the protestors said. The administration is also stopping the salaries of the employees, thereby punishing their families, they said.

The majority of Kashmiri Pandits, who were employed under the Prime Minister's package in 2012, have been staging protests threatening mass exodus since the killing of Rahul Bhat. Bhat, a state revenue department employee, was shot dead by terrorists in the tehsil office in Chadoora town of Budgam district of J-K's Badgam district on May 22.

Bhat's killing sparked demonstrations by around 6,000 Kashmiri Pandit employees at various places demanding relocation outside the Valley. Dogra employees, who returned to Jammu following the killing of their colleague Rajni Bala, are demanding their transfer to their native places in Jammu from Kashmir. A resident of Samba district, Bala was shot dead by terrorists at a school in south Kashmir's Kulgam district on May 31.