Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 14: All Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (ASGMC) staged a sit-in protest, here today pressing the Government to end discrimination with Kashmiri Sikhs.
Representatives of Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee of all districts and elites of Sikh society participated in the protest led by Baldev Singh, chairman, All Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee.
Speaking on the occasion Baldev Singh said that despite giving many sacrifices for Kashmir, Sikhs are neglected time and again. He said this is first time in the history of 70 years when no Sikh has been taken as member of Public Service Commission.
He further stressed that Punjabi language which was the official language of J&K as guaranteed under Article 146, Schedule VI of J&K constitution has been removed in spite of the assurance as on record by Ex Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta and other BJP leaders that it will be included in bill in the Cabinet.
It was also pointed out that the Government has been playing delaying tactics in issuing the clear cut orders regarding the coverage of Sikhs under Pahari Speaking category and denying them certificates on one pretext or other.
The ASGMC chairman and representatives of district committees expressed their resentment that Sikhs living in Kashmir have not been included in the package on the recently passed order of All India Council for Technical Education in which concession for the wards of the Kashmiri Migrants and Kashmiri Hindu families (non migrants) living in Kashmir Valley was sanctioned by Union Ministry of Education in consultation with Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The Sikhs of Kashmir were very hopeful that their long pending demand of Minority status will be granted to them but Government of India miserably failed to implement it and it seems they are hell-bent on snatching some of the benefits from this community as already has been done in case of Punjabi as official language of J&K,” Singh added.
Singh has warned the Government that if demands of Kashmiri Sikhs are not considered in letter and spirit, they will be left with no option but to come out on roads.
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