Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 15: All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC), a prominent Sikh organization today urged upon its community to vote against those political parties which have intentions of dividing Jammu and Kashmir on communal basis.
The leaders of the community while addressing a press conference said that some political parties were trying to polarize the State on communal basis for their vested interests.
Jagmohan Singh Raina, Chairman APSSC said that the community is ready to support PDP, because its patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed promised that his Government would implement Minority Act in the State for Sikhs.
“We urge our community not to vote those who are trying to polarize the State on religious basis,” Sikh leader said.
Lambasting National Conference and Congress Coalition Government, Raina said the present Government has cheated the Sikh community. “We voted for National Conference in 2008 Assembly elections as it promised that Sikhs will be granted minority status, but from last six years the party did nothing in this direction,” Raina said.
He said that the community has decided not to vote for NC and Congress, because its coalition showed cold response and failed to address the “genuine” issues.
APSCC Chairman also said that the upcoming State Assembly election is a decisive one for the Sikh community and it will decide their fate. “Our votes will decide the fate of more than 12 candidates in Jammu division and equal number of seats in Kashmir, which will change the destiny of any political party,” he said.
Apart from granting minority status to their community in the State, he said, the Government has failed to introduce Punjabi language as a subject in schools and colleges. “Including Punjabi in school curriculum would have generated a good number of jobs for unemployed youth of our community,” he said.
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