Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 17: Sikhs today urged the Centre to implement the recommendations regarding Sikhs of the State by interlocutors appointed by Centre on Jammu and Kashmir.
“In their report the interlocutors have recommended that 7,000 jobs should be provided to the Sikh youth in sectors like insurance, posts and telegraph and other departments. They also recommended that compensation at the rate of Rs. 1 lakh per year per family should be given to those Sikhs who could not attend to their orchards and fields during the 23 years of militancy in the state,” said All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) Chairman, Jagmohan Singh Raina while delivering his speech during the inaugural session of the two day Sikh, Conference that began here today.
Jagmohan said that the interlocutors recommended that the minority status should be given to the Sikhs living in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the interlocutors had also recommended that State Subject Certificates should be issued to the Sikhs, adding that the impediments in this respect should be removed.
“Sikh Members of Parliament like Navjot Singh Sidhu, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Trilochan Singh and Dr. Ratan Singh Ajnala have raised this point in the Parliament. They need to take this up more vigorously so that the recommendations put forward by the interlocutors are implemented in letter and spirit. The pathetic condition of the Sikhs living in the Kashmir valley has come up in Parliament time and again, but as far as action is concerned nothing of that sort has happened,” he said.
Jagmohan said that the fate of at least 20 legislators of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly depends upon the Sikh electorate in the state. He asked the Sikhs to form a single platform so that the demands are put in right perspective before the concerned stake holders.
Jagmohan said Sikh youth who have migrated from rural areas and have settled in urban areas are being denied jobs in the Police Department.
He demanded a CBI probe in the Patrhribal incident saying that this would remove the controversy surrounding the genuineness of the encounter.
He expressed his dismay that Punjabi is being taught in two colleges in Kashmir while as the number was eight in 1989. He demanded a judicial probe in the issuance of Internally Displaced Certificate (IDC) and said that IDC should be issued in favour of Sikhs as well.
In his address, Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, President Sikh Student Federation said the cases of mistaken-identity killings in which many Sikhs have lost their lives cannot be tolerated anymore. He referred to these killings as genocide and said that the attackers need to be identified so that action is taken against them.
Dilmag Singh, Secretary Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee told that the gathering that SGPC will provide free admission to the meritorious Sikh students of the state. He said SGPC would always try it best to solve the long pending issues of the Sikhs living in Jammu and Kashmir.
The other Sikh leaders who spoke on the first day of the conference include Aya Singh, Gurdev Singh Principal Niranjan Singh, Sardar Vijender Singh Mann, Sardar Damodar Singh Mehta, Prof. Daleep Singh Deepak, Joginder Singh Shaan Kashmir, Engineer Nirmal Singh and Harcharan Singh Khalsa.
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