KD NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, Oct 18: Apni Party General Secretary Vijay Bakaya has expressed horror at the cold blooded killing of Puran Krishan Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit and non-locals in Shopian
In a statement issued to Kashmir Despatch, Bakaya reminded the LG Administration that this incident confirms the apprehension of PM Package employees that the trend of targeted killing of KP’s as earlier stated by him has not ceased and the environment is still not conducive for the PM Package employees to return and work safely in the valley
He urged the LG Administration to take a realistic and humane view and not take coercive measures like stoppage of salary to force the PM Package employees to return to duty in the valley.
Instead those who have come to Jammu should be treated on deputation or attached temporarily in the Relief Organization or other offices for performing assigned tasks till the wave of targeted killing subsides.
He stated that they should continue to be paid their salary against their posts in the valley..
Bakaya pointed out that because of the fear and the trauma of the past that haunts them, they need to be treated with empathy and not purely as an administrative issue.
He reiterated that the package employees are hard working and have been performing duties diligently since 2010 and that it was only after a spate of killings of innocent non locals culminating in the killing of a Package employee Rahul Bhat that these employees shifted for safety to Jammu.
Bakaya urged that while he understood that the administration was doing whatever it could, a sense of security had not yet been conveyed and the sinister design to force the non locals and KP’s to leave the valley is still being implemented. This is an extraordinary situation which requires an extraordinary solution, he said.
