Expressing concern over a growing sense of insecurity among minority communities in Jammu & Kashmir, particularly in Kashmir Valley and the erstwhile Doda district, BJP national executive member Jitendra Singh has called upon the National Conference-Congress coalition government to take adequate steps to instill confidence across the community lines and to desist the ruling party leaders from issuing irresponsible statements loaded with communal undertones.
Singh said Jammu & Kashmir, being the only Muslim majority state of India, owes a special responsibility to set an example as a model of communal harmony for the rest of the country but the incidents of last two months, including the riots in Kishtwar and reports of alleged terrorising of the Sikh community in the Valley, have sent out an impression that the state is no longer safe for the minorities.
Such an eventuality has led to a fear psychosis among minorities with risk of migration on the same pattern as was witnessed in the late 1980s in the form of mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community from the Valley, he warned. This has, in addition, led to fear among non-state subjects presently posted in J&K, the BJP leader said.
He added that unfortunately an impression is gaining ground that the coalition government because of constraints of its Kashmir-centric approach tends to strike a balancing act after each incident of assault on the minorities, which further compounds the sense of insecurity among them. There is also an evident perception that the youth of the minority community are arbitrarily rounded up by the administration on flimsy grounds and even after procuring bail for a particular offence, the detenues are remanded under some other sections, he added.
{{/usCountry}}He added that unfortunately an impression is gaining ground that the coalition government because of constraints of its Kashmir-centric approach tends to strike a balancing act after each incident of assault on the minorities, which further compounds the sense of insecurity among them. There is also an evident perception that the youth of the minority community are arbitrarily rounded up by the administration on flimsy grounds and even after procuring bail for a particular offence, the detenues are remanded under some other sections, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Singh suggested that anybody indulging in terror or arson should be treated as an offender, irrespective of the community he belongs to. He also called upon the government to post such police and administrative officers at sensitive places, who do not carry with them the past baggage of social or sectarian bias.
Above all, he added, the chief minister should himself set an example by expressing on Twitter or media, the same degree of concern over the loss or death of a member of minority community or army soldier as he does for others.