Shift Kashmiri Pandit Employees To Jammu Till Situation Improves In Valley, Says Ghulam Nabi Azad

Azad's comment came just days after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that salaries won't be paid to Kashmiri Pandit employees unless they return to work.

New Delhi: Over the recent surge in targeted killing of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) by terrorists in the valley, Democratic Azad Party (DAP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said that KP employees should be temporarily transferred to Jammu in order to save their lives, news agency PTI reported.

Speaking to the reporters, after a rally in Anantnag district, Azad said, "A decision has to be taken as per the situation. When the situation improves, they (KP employees) should come back. But currently, there is fear in the minds of these employees. For the time being, they should be transferred to Jammu so that their lives can be saved. Why should they be killed."

Azad's comment came just days after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that salaries won't be paid to Kashmiri Pandit employees unless they return to work. A group of Kashmiri Pandit employees has been holding protests since May demanding that they must be relocated to a safe place.

Raising concern over the targeted killings in the past year, Azad said that KP employees posted there do not want to stay. "How will the other KPs come back in such a situation," the 73- year-old Kashmiri leader asked.

Azad said it was during his tenure as chief minister that 6,000 posts were sanctioned under the PM's Package for KPs. "It was in my tenure that the Jagti township came up, the accommodation at Budgam and other places was also built under the double shift work," he added.

Earlier, while addressing the gathering, Azad said there should be a separate approach to deal with the militants which should not be extended to the ordinary people. He emphasized that every Kashmiri should not be viewed with suspicion.

"There are two categories of people. One is a militant who gets arms training in Pakistan or here only. Every government has a policy to deal with them. I have not said they should be forgiven. However, there are ordinary people who have no links to militancy, they should not be harassed," Azad said.

Commenting on the impact of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, Azad said, "Let them do what they are doing, we will do our work. We are also working to unite. We walk in the snow-clad mountains. Some people take the easier task, we take on the tough ones." 

(With inputs from PTI)