Kashmiri Pandits write to High Court of J&K and Ladakh on shifting employees from Kashmir

Our Correspondent

Jammu, June 3

In the wake of the recent targeted killings, Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) has sought the high court's intervention to direct the government to relocate all religious minorities from Kashmir. KPSS chief Sanjay K Tickoo said he had petitioned the Chief Justice of the the High Court of J&K and Ladakh through an e-mail, invoking Article 21 that guarantees right to life, seeking action, including relocation of religious minorities from Kashmir.

At the same time, the protest, mainly by teachers, continued in Jammu today against the targeted killings in the Valley. They have been demanding their transfer from Kashmir to their home districts in Jammu. The protesters had returned from Kashmir after a Kulgam schoolteacher, Rajni Bala (36), was shot dead by terrorists recently. Under the banner of the All Jammu-based Reserved Categories Employees Association, the protesters staged a dharna at Panama Chowk in Jammu. Meanwhile, Opposition parties said the government’s failure was behind the targeted killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

In Delhi, AAP said it would hold a protest on Sunday. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said Kashmiri Pandits were being forced into an exodus for the second time. He said that even in 1990 a BJP-backed government was in power at the Centre. “The government seems clueless as lives are ruined,” Singh said. AAP’s Jammu unit said the situation in the Valley was worse than it was in 1990s. A leader, Harsh Dev Singh, said the Centre’s “proxy rule” had completely failed to deal with the situation in J&K.

Apni Party’s Jammu provincial president Manjit Singh met family members of schoolteacher Rajni Bala, who was killed recently by militants. He appealed to the government to transfer all the SC employees to Jammu till the security situation improves. “The government is hiding the real situation and trying to project that everything is normal,” he added.

Govt clueless

Lives are being ruined but the government appears to be clueless. Pandits are facing exodus for the second time. — Sanjay Singh, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP

False projection

The government is hiding the real situation and trying to project that all is well. SC staff should be shifted to Jammu. — Manjit Singh, provincial prez, Apni Party