Officials reported that dozens of migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees who had gathered in Jammu for a protest to urge their demands—including a transfer from the Valley and the payment of unpaid salary—had been detained on Wednesday.
Police forbade the employees from staging their planned protest outside the Press Club. The police detained up to 50 protestors when the workers gathered in the adjoining chowk and began shouting slogans in favour of their demands. They were transported in a bus to the Police Lines.
“We tried to persuade them to disperse but since they were adamant about continuing the protest, we took them into preventive custody,” a government official said. The official said that protracted protests in the region have turned into a public nuisance when asked if prohibitory orders had been put in place outside the Press Club, the site of periodic demonstrations.
“There are no restrictions on peaceful protests for 30 minutes or an hour, but they are taking up the area for hours till midnight, making it difficult for commuters and occupying the administration and the police,” he claimed.
Following the murder of two colleagues, Rahul Bhat and Rajini Bala, by terrorists in the Valley as part of the Prime Minister’s package, hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits were hired there before relocating to Jammu in May.
Bala, a teacher, was killed by gunfire on May 31 in Kulgam, south Kashmir, while Bhat was killed inside his office on May 12 in Budgam, central Kashmir.
Manoj Sinha, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, reported on February 4 that many of the workers had returned to the Valley to resume their responsibilities and that instructions had been given to release their pending salaries.
Assuring the safety of the community is a top priority for the administration and security personnel, according to Sinha. But, the protesters asserted that only a small number of employees had been forced to resume their work and that many others were unwilling to go back to the Valley because of a “sense of insecurity”.
Also Read: Rajasthan To Experience Rise In Temperature From Feb 20
