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| Displaced Pandits deserve a better deal | | `We have sacrificed for India’ | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 23: The pandits have sacrificed for the country and deserve a better deal. This was stated by angry youth from the displaced pandit community during an interaction with civil society actors from Kashmir comprising mostly of the majority community here yesterday. The interaction was facilitated by an NGO.
A senior journalist from Valley who participated in the interaction said the anger displayed by the youth was fully justified. “They have suffered for the past two decades and their own community was treating them as outcastes”, he said.
Shockingly the employment package announced by the Prime Minister to accommodate educated youth from the community stands almost jeopardized. Caught between a court order and a cabinet decision, the energetic youth are determined to fight it out to the end.
Interestingly these youth persuaded beneficiaries of the package to join their duties in the Valley against all odds. “The entire community is cursing us for this but we believe that this will pave way for our honorable return to the Valley”, said RK Dhar who headed the group.
Some members of the group observed a hunger strike at Partap Park in Residency Road in the summer capital early this year to press their demands. “First day the press came and the strike hogged the headlines of almost all the local dailies. But next day nobody came and the momentum died down”, he said adding “the civil society members also ignored us. Nobody came to us.”
However, the group was all praise for the shopkeepers at residency road who offered the protesters tea and snacks. “We thanked them but did not accept the tea as we were on hunger strike.”
“We have suffered for India. The state government and the union government must understand this. We deserve a better deal. But unfortunately we have been left to fend for ourselves”, he lamented.
The group explained that the package did not infringe the rights of unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir regions in any way. “This is what has been given to us in the past twenty-two decades”, said another youth.
The participants from Kashmir assured full help to the youth in their fight for enforcement of their rights. “We may even move court for them if need arises”, they said.
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