CPI(M)’s Tarigami suggests dialogue to resolve issues of Kashmiri Pandit employees

Jammu, Dec 26 (PTI) Asserting that warnings only complicate issues rather than solving them, Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Y Tarigami on Monday suggested dialogue with the protesting employees who are seeking their relocation outside Kashmir in the wake of targeted killings.

Hundreds of Kashmiri migrant Pandits and Jammu-based reserved category employees are camping in Jammu after leaving their places of postings in the Valley following the killing of their colleagues — Rahul Bhat and Rajni Bala — by terrorists in May.

Last week, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha asserted that all necessary measures had been taken to ensure the safety of minority community employees, including Kashmiri Pandits, in Kashmir and sent out a “loud and clear” message to those demanding a transfer that no salary will be given for sitting at home.

“They are caught in a hapless situation and need a sympathetic and humanitarian approach to address their demands. The warnings are not given to our own people, it further complicates the situation,” Tarigami, who is also convener and spokesperson of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), told PTI here.

He said the minority employees are feeling insecure and “they (administration) is saying that they are not going to listen to them”. “…Learn to conduct business with your own people by holding dialogue and made them satisfy if you think the situation is normal in the valley, though it is otherwise”.

The former legislator said the PAGD delegation met the Lt Governor in May over the targeted killings and told him to ensure adequate security to them so that they can feel secure.

PAGD, an amalgam of five political parties — National Conference, PDP, CPI(M), CPM and Awami National Conference — is campaigning for restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir ended by the Centre on August 5, 2019.

“The elementary demand of every citizen is protection of their life and property. We stand with the protesting employees and want the government to ensure a safe environment for them to perform their duties normally,” Taragami said.

Asked about the statement of Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Kashmiri Pandits that it is better to save precious human life even if it means closing down a dozen offices, he said the remark is absolutely in contradiction with the statement of the Lt Governor.

“Let them sit together and reach a consensus about what to speak or not,” the CPI(M) leader said.

He also dismissed the administration’s claims about restoration of normalcy in the valley. “There are no indicators suggesting expression of normalcy.”

“If there is normalcy, what is stopping them from holding Assembly elections, why are the Pandit employees forced to flee en masse and why are they being threatened to return to their duties?” he asked.

Tarigami said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other central government agencies are going house-to-house and the people are being booked under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) and shifted to jails outside the valley.

“If the situation is normal, why do they not go for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)? Journalists are not free to work or make critical analyses of the situation,” he said.

He also expressed concern over the recent killing of two civilians outside an Army camp in Rajouri district and demanded an impartial probe into the incident.