Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 17: After recent panic wave of resignations in North Kashmir’s Sopore area, the Panchayat members of Kashmir today put a brave face and refused to accept militant diktats and resign under any militant pressure.
The chairman of the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), Shafiq Mir, while addressing a press conference in Srinagar said that decision not to resign under pressure was taken after the senior members of the Panchayat Conference visited Sopore area of North Kashmir where one Sarpanch was killed and a Panch injured in a militant attack last week.
Mir while declining resignation of Panchayat members under pressure said: “Whatever the consequences, we will not resign under pressure”. He said that the members visited the Zainagair block in Sopore where around 80 Panchayat members resigned in this week after recent wave of targeted attacks.
The Chairman AJKPC said that Inspector General of Jammu and Police, Kashmir, S M Sahia has assured them that individual security will be provided to those Sarpanchs who are affiliated to political parties like National Conference, Congress and People’s Democratic Party and face grave threat.
Mir said that Panchayat members became more vulnerable after the last month’s Legislative Council elections in which a record number of over 16, 000 Panchs and Sarpanchs voted to elect two members from Kashmir Valley.
“During the LC elections the Panchayat members identified themselves with different political parties which increased the threat perception of the Panchayat members”, Mir said.
The Chairman of the AJKPC said that if the Panchayats are empowered, their members don’t need the police security as community will protect them against the militant attacks. But at present due to lack of empowerment community can’t protect the Panchayat members.
While responding to the threats issued by the UJC Chairman to Panchayat members in November last year, Mir said that he too was part of the democratic system when he fought elections. “Being part of a democratic system once, he should not have issued the threat to the Panchayat members”, said Mir.
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