Kashmiri Pandit leader calls off hunger strike after assurances from government

Tickoo has been on a hunger strike to protest against the Centre’s alleged apathy to the demands and needs of nearly 800 Kashmiri Pandit families that never left the Valley.

Kashmiri Pandit leader Sanjay Tickoo on Friday called off his hunger strike after getting assurances from the government that the issues raised by him will be resolved on priority.

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Tickoo has been on a hunger strike to protest against the Centre’s alleged apathy to the demands and needs of nearly 800 Kashmiri Pandit families that never left the Valley. “Yes we got an assurance from the government that our problems will be resolved on priority,” the Kashmiri Pandit Sanghrash Samiti president Sanjay Tickoo said.

Some other leaders of the local Kashmiri Pandit Sanghrash Samiti, led by Tickoo, have been sitting on fast unto death at the courtyard of a local temple in Srinagar.

In a statement issued here, KPSS said Srinagar deputy commissioner Shahid Iqbal Chowdhary handed a written assurance to the KPSS president that their demands will be addressed promptly and will be taken to the logical conclusion. “This visit by the senior government official was preceded by emissaries of the chief secretary as well as the additional deputy commissioner who came to the venue a number of times to negotiate with the KPSS president in the last two days. Therefore, the strike has been called off after 248 hours of Fast-Unto-Death pledge,” the KPSS said.

The Samiti leaders had alleged that more than 800 Kashmiri Pandit families, who never migrated from the Valley, have been ignored by the government while framing the policies for migrant pandit families.

The Samiti is demanding jobs for the unemployed youths of the pandit families living in Kashmir and also monthly cash assistance on the pattern of the scheme in place for migrant pandit families living in Jammu and other parts of the country.