Minority status: Sikh outfit protest in J&K
Scores of members of Sikh community assembled at the banks of river Jhelum near Zero Bridge and raised protest against the “indifference of people at helm in the state”.
The protesters said that the state government has forgotten them and is in no mood to fulfill the genuine demands of the Sikh community in Jammu & Kashmir.
The protesters were carrying banners and placards in their hands and demanded immediate solution to the issues confronting the Sikh community in the state. They warned the coalition partners of dire consequences if the demands are not met at the earliest.
“Despite giving an ultimatum of 20 days the state government did not move an inch towards the fulfillment of demands of Sikh community and has failed to extend the National Minority Act to the Sikhs of Jammu & Kashmir,” Chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said
“We had given an ultimatum of 20 days to the government to look into our issues and redress them accordingly. However, it is shocking and disappointing that chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed did not utter a single word in this matter and same is the case with his ministerial colleagues,” he added
Raina said that PDP in its election manifesto had written that minority status would be given to the Sikhs of Jammu & Kashmir. He said that PDP-BJP government in the state is more than eight months old but still then there is no progress with respect to fulfillment of demands of Sikhs in the state.
“Let me reiterate that many of the PDP candidates won the elections due to the votes cast by the Sikhs in their respective constituencies. It is quite disappointing and disheartening that these legislators along with the others in the government are turning a deaf ear to the genuine problems of Sikhs in the state. They should mend their ways otherwise the day is not far off when the present government would get dislodged,” said APSCC Chairman.
He said that similar protests would be carried out in different districts of Kashmir followed by Jammu division, adding that agitation would be peaceful in the first phase adding that situation would be assessed with the passage of time.
(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)
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