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| Demand for minority status | | The Sikh cause | | Rustam
JAMMU, Jan 5: The Sikh community in the State has several grievances against Jammu & Kashmir Government and the Union Government and most of their notable grievances have not been addressed by the State Government. Their major demands are inclusion of Sikhs in the Council of Ministers and grant of minority status to the community, extension of the jurisdiction of the National Minorities Commission (NMC) to Jammu & Kashmir, establishment of a minority commission in the State, adequate representation in the service sector and application of the Central Government schemes meant for the minority communities. Their demands also include introduction of Punjabi language and appointment of Punjabi teachers in the schools and colleges located in Kashmir.
They have also been denouncing the State authorities for their failure to hold elections to the district Gurudwara Prabandhak Committees despite the fact that their tenure was over almost four years ago. \
They are also bemoaning the official indifferent attitude that they be allowed to erect a magnificent status of Banda Singh Bahadur, who hailed from Jammu.
The Sikh community has been running from pillar to post to get their grievances redressed but sans result. Even their meetings with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President Pranab Mukherjee have not yielded any positive results. Not just this, Kashmir has witnessed the creation of a situation similar to what Kashmir saw between 1987 and 1990s which had left the Kashmiri Hindus with no option but to leave their ancient habitat. The difference this time is that the Islamist forces in Kashmir have launched a movement to induce Sikhs to renounce their religion and culture and embrace the religion of the separatists and jihadis. Also, young girls and womenfolk of the Sikh community are being targetted, a development that has shaken and forced community leaders to lodge a strong protest. They have issued a threat that their community will retaliate in case the Muslim religious leadership, which is an integral part of the ongoing secessionist movement in the Valley continued with its conversion activities targetting Sikh girls.
In fact, the All-Party Sikh Coordination Committee chairman (APSCC), S Jagmohan Singh Raina, taking strong exception to the 'process of conversion' started by the Muslim clergy, urged them to "stop such activities…failing which the situation may get out of their hands".
Jagmohan Singh Raina, in addition, made a startling revelation that more than 30 Sikh girls have eloped and some have been kidnapped and later converted to other religion. Sikhs in the past have rendered innumerable sacrifices in Kashmir and have maintained the age-old tradition of communal harmony. But the minorities won't tolerate religious aggression. Raina also said,"Moreover, any attempt at conversion by offering inducements like money, job or admission in charity institutions would be opposed strongly". So much so, he has urged the community members not to vote for the National Conference (NC) and the Congress candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and threatened that the APSCC would launch a movement across the State to ensure the defeat of the NC and the
Congress candidates.
The general consensus among the minority communities and other neglected social groups, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, refugees from West Pakistan, refugees from Pakistan-occupied-Jammu & Kashmir and the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus, is that it is because of the divisive, anti-people and anti-democratic Article 370 that is responsible for their neglect.
There is also general consensus among these social groups and communities that if they are to lead a dignified life, this Article has to go lock, stock and barrel. However, to say all this is not to suggest that the Sikh community is not responsible for its own miserable plight. Indeed, it is equally responsible, as bulk of the Sikh electorate in the State has always voted for the parties which ignore the Sikh community. If the Sikh leadership really wants empowerment of the community then it has no other option but to refashion its whole approach towards the so-called secular parties and
turn towards those who do not differentiate between communities. |
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