Srinagar: Amid an ongoing protest by hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit employees in Valley, Democratic Azad Party (DAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that their safety is of paramount importance and they should be temporarily shifted to Jammu til the situation improves in J&K. “Unfortunately, some incidents have happened. Life is a priority and so I am of the opinion that Kashmiri Pandit employees should be transferred to safer places in Jammu. When the situation improves, they should be brought back, “the veteran J&K politician told reporters.


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Azad stressed that their life is far more important than employment and promised to take such a step if his party comes to power in the UT. “I do not know what the approach of the government is, but if our party comes to power, we will do this only (temporarily shift such employees to Jammu),” he said.


Asked about the delay in holding the assembly elections in J&K, the former chief minister said, “We have been waiting for the last six years. I raised the issue many times in Parliament as well. They show us Panchayat elections or DDC polls, but the real election is that of assembly which is not taking place.”


 



 


Kashmiri Pandits Reject J&K Lt Gov's 'No Work, No Pay' Remark


It may be noted that migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees have intensified their months-long protest demanding a transfer from the Valley following Lt Governor Manoj Sinha's remarks about stopping their salaries.


The protesters also said it was best for the government to sack them as they would not rejoin their services in the Valley in the absence of proper security after a Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliate published hit lists of Kashmiri Pandit employees.


The migrant Kashmiri Pandit and Jammu-based reserved category employees left the Valley in May following the targeted killings of two colleagues. They are seeking relocation outside Kashmir.


J&K Lt Governor Sinha had asserted that all necessary measures had been taken to ensure the safety of minority community employees, including Kashmiri Pandits, in the Valley and sent out a "loud and clear" message to those demanding a transfer -- no salary for sitting at home.


"We have cleared their (protesting employees') salaries till August 31 but it cannot be done that they will be paid their salaries by sitting at their homes. This is a loud and clear message to them and they should listen and understand it," Sinha told reporters.


In response, the Kashmiri Pandit employees, employed under the Prime Minister's Rehabilitation Package in the Valley, held demonstrations in front of the Press Club here.


Carrying placards depicting the administration's "step-motherly treatment" towards them, they also raised slogans in support of their relocation. "It is an unfortunate statement. It is better for the government to sack us all. We will not go to the Valley to join services. Our lives are more important than jobs," a protester told reporters here.


However, a few days later, indicating a thaw in the government's stance on the relocation of under-threat Kashmiri Pandit employees from the valley, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said it is better to save a human life even if it means closing down a dozen offices.


He also hit out at the opposition parties accusing them of following the policy of appeasement to the extent of being "inhuman." He alleged that these parties not only discriminated between people but also went to the extent of discriminating between the Line of Control and the International Border purely for vote considerations.


"This should be addressed amicably and with sensitivity. My personal opinion is that nothing can be more valuable than human life," the minister told reporters in Kathua. "If there is a threat even to one life, it is better to save that life even if it means closing down a dozen offices."


PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti Saturday too said instead of giving migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees an ultimatum to join their duty, the Jammu and Kashmir administration should chalk out a middle path taking into consideration the recent targeted killings in the Valley.


(With Agency Inputs)