KPS asks Govt to concede demand of package employees

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 13: An Executive Body meeting of KP Sabha (KPS) was held today under the chairmanship of K. K. Khosa, its president in which members expressed their dismay over rigid stand taken by Government over the demand of package employees protesting for over last 200 days now in support of their demand.
The meeting, which was attended by all office bearers of the Sabha urged the Government to look into the demand of package employees on the humanitarian grounds in view of the targeted killings of the minority Hindus in the Valley.
Khosa said on the one hand the Government since 2008 after the announcement of 6000 job package for migrant youth has failed to construct accommodations for them at safe and secure places and on the other hand the Government was applying all coercive methods to harass them by withholding their salaries.
Khosa said it is unfortunate that the present Government has totally neglected the displaced Pandits and the doors of engagement for a dialogue on their burning issues including their honourable and dignified rehabilitation in Kashmir Valley have been closed. He urged the LG administration to open the channels of dialogue with displaced Pandits and settle their long standing issues besides protection of their religious places with passage of Shrines and Temples Bill.
Khosa made it clear that the Pandits crave for return to their ancestral land Kashmir and this was the reason that the 6000 youth volunteered themselves to serve in Kashmir after the package was announced in 2008. They worked there for over last 10 years with dedication but were totally scared and harassed after the selective killings in the Valley and were left with no alternative but to return to Jammu for their safety.
He demanded that Government should ensure fool proof security to the minorities as well as package employees in the Valley, besides expediting the construction of quarters for them.