 eARLY tIMES rEPORT
Jammu, June 10: Nearly a half dozen panchayat members from the Valley on Wednesday demanded adequate security cover from the central government and the Jammu and Kashmir administration following the killing of a Congress sarpanch by terrorists in Anantnag district on Monday.
While addressing mediapersons at the exhibition ground here, the panchayat members, who came from Kashmir, said, “We are nothing more than sitting ducks.”
Manoj Pandita, sarpanch of Lajora in Kakapora area of Pulwama district, said, “Following an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah to hold panchayat elections and initiate a political process, we participated in the polls despite threats from terror outfits. We were happy that we will be returning home.”
“The Centre and the UT administration should have given a serious thought about our security. On Monday, Ajay was killed. Tomorrow they will kill someone else. What is also disheartening is that no one from the administration has so far visited Ajay’s family to console his wife and two young daughters,” he said.
“Ajay was the backbone of grassroot democracy in Kashmir. I request the administration to visit his daughters so that they can feel that their father sacrificed his life for India and was not a militant,” he added.
“We were born and grew up in the Valley. We belong to that soil but security certainly remains a prime concern for us,” he added.
Pandita said panchayat polls had rekindled a ray of hope among Kashmiris Pandits to return to their motherland and work for welfare of poor in their respective villages. He, however, said a person who was a nationalist in Kashmir was always on the hitlist of Pakistan-funded terror outfits.
Meanwhile, president of the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, Anil Sharma said, “After Ajay Pandita’s killing, half a dozen sarpanches fled Kashmir in panic and reached Jammu. They were not given any help by the administration and we ensured that they reach here.”
“I have been getting calls from sarpanches and panches in Valley saying that they are ready to resign. However, I have asked them not to do so as it will allow Pakistani machinations to succeed,” he added.
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