Won’t allow KP employees to become sacrificial goats: Ravinder Raina

Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Friday urged lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to meet Kashmiri Pandit and reserved category employees at the Raj Bhawan.

Calling the L-G kind hearted, Raina said, “I appeal L-G Manoj Sinha to meet Kashmiri Pandit employees and reserved category employees at the Raj Bhawan for once. I am confident that he will not disappoint us. Bureaucrats do not understand the pulse of the people, but politicians do.”

Addressing agitating Pandit employees, who had assembled outside BJP headquarters to protest against the L-G’s remark that “employees who do not work, would not get paid” the BJP leader said, “When the L-G hears out the agitating employees, he will learn the ground realities. Probably, officials did not present the details to the L-G,which is why he made such a statement.”

Raina also assured the agitating employees that on Saturday the party’s national general secretary will meet them at Jammu. “We have also raised your issue at New Delhi. We will not allow you to become sacrificial goats,” said Raina.

Angered over Sinha’s remarks about stopping their salaries, Kashmiri Pandit employees had on Monday intensified their protest demanding relocation to the safe environs of Jammu ,following targeted killings by terrorists in Kashmir.

Dogra employees under the banner of “All Jammu-based Reserved Categories Employees Association” were also agitating seeking a transfer policy, under which they can be transferred from the Valley to their home districts in the Jammu region.

Sinha on Wednesday asserted that all necessary measures have been taken for the safety of minority community employees, including Kashmiri Pandits serving in the Valley and send out a “loud and clear” message to those protesting for transfer, no salary for sitting at home.

The PM package employees, who have also been on strike in the Valley for the past seven months following the killing of their colleague Rahul Bhat on May 12, have intensified the agitation by holding protests.

On December 7 union minister Nityanand Rai had said in the Rajya Sabha that 14 people belonging to minority communities, including three Kashmiri Pandits, have been killed in J&K this year so far.