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PAGD urges Kashmiri Pandit employees to stay in Kashmir

Early Times Report

Srinagar, May 15: The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Sunday urged Kashmiri Pandit employees not to leave the valley as it was their home and it would be “painful for all”, after the community demanded their relocation following the killing of a member by militants.
The appeal by the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) came after a delegation led by its president Farooq Abdullah met Jammu and Kashmiri Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan here today. The meeting was over the issue of security of Kashmiri Pandit employees in the aftermath of the killing of Rahul Bhat that has sparked protests by community members.
PAGD demanded adequate security to the Kashmiri Pandits so that they should feel safe and stay back here without any fear.
“Kashmiri Pandit, Rahul Bhat's unfortunate killing has shaken entire communities of the people of Kashmir and it has created much more fear among those who belong to this community in whole”, said PAGD spokesman Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami to media persons in Srinagar.
“We told the Kashmiri Pandit delegation who met us on Saturday that we cannot afford to let them leave. The LG also agreed to that today,” he said.
He said, it is the duty of all of us that we have to be on guard on the side of the marginalized sections and minority community members.
The minority community members who are doing their duty here insist us to take up the issue with the authority and we met the Lieutenant Governor and conveyed all concerns of Kashmiri pandits who are working in the valley as employees or staying here as non migrant families.
Kashmiri pandits who demand they want to leave Kashmir in such circumstances. But PAGD members told them, we can’t afford and urged for sufficient protection must be provided and this is the duty of the government to protect every citizen more importantly Kashmiri pandits who are staying here, Tarigami said.
He said, we also urged that all possible assistance must be provided to the members of the community so that they live here with a sense of security comfortably.
Tarigami said that the Lieutenant Governor agreed that it is not possible for Kashmiri pandits to work in remote areas and need to provide safer accommodations.
He said this is the first time we met together with the Lieutenant Governor.
After the killing of Rahul Bhat there is a large fear among the community members.
“Genuinely they feel disturbed and every community has suffered during all these years”, he added.
Tarigami said, “There are certain elements of disruption as well which is unfortunate and a lot of us have suffered. we must realize that suffering in such incidents are much more a matter of concern for all of us”.
“We don’t differentiate between the communities…tragedy is a tragedy for everyone”, he said and added “Minority is always a minority wherever it is in the rest of the country and the protection of the minority is the duty of the whole society”.