STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: JKPCC Vice President and former Cabinet Minister Raman Bhalla on Sunday claimed that Congress was very disturbed about what’s happening in Jammu and Kashmir.
“There have been targeted killings for the last few weeks. Hindus and Sikhs have been picked for killing though others have also suffered and one and two locals were killed as well. Nobody has forgotten the painful 1990, I don’t think we can allow this to continue and hoped the government will take effective measures. The responsibility is on the Central Government,” he said.
This was observed by former Minister while addressing people from across sections of society of Gandhi Nagar constituency on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, he said nobody is willing to come to Kashmir in view of the emerging situation that has led to the migration of labourers and Kashmiri Pandits who had got jobs under the Prime Minister’s package here.
“They are seeking investors but who will come to invest under the present situation? I do not see any development happening in Jammu and Kashmir after historical blunders in J&K by BJP govt. They promised 50,000 jobs but where did these jobs go? Inflation has broken the backbone of the poor,” the former Minister said.
It is important for the HM to do a reality check and take feedback while also assuaging feelings of those whose aspirations have not been met. Hopefully in Jammu too, the HM should apply balm to a restive populace which perceives it has been wronged demanding alternatives for Jammu’s political and administrative future.
Bhalla maintained that however, it is unlikely that these issues may find acceptance with the HM under the current circumstances where it is more important to stabilize and neutralize Pakistan’s efforts at communalization and infusing sub-regional aspirations to upset the apple cart.
Moreover, it has revived and sharpened communal fears among victims while the Poonch terrorists-army encounter in which 13 militants and 9 security personnel died reveals how deep terrorists have dug in without getting noticed in the porous border area. Certainly, the selective killings betray its evil intention, creating a fresh scare among Kashmiri Pandits intending to return home after three decades and to deter ordinary migrant workers mainly from UP and Bihar, comprising Hindus and Muslims from working here. Worse, the fear psychosis is getting aggravated ominously and becoming politically sensitive with Bhalla questioning the Centre’s one-step-forward-two-step-back policies.
Except hollow condolences and banal assurances, there is deafening silence by the Centre, thereby, exposing the hollowness of misconceived political ‘messages’ of development, normality and end of terrorism,” said Bhalla.