Though Sikh community forms good number of vote share in few constituencies of the Kashmir division still they are deprived of nominations to the democratic institutions. Unfortunately power circles have ignored these facts; as a result Kashmir’s Sikh community remains unrepresented in upper and lower houses of the state. Ironically, no valley based political party in last held elections gave mandate to any Sikh candidate in the Kashmir division. Only Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) gave ticket to a Sikh, Avtar Singh from Pulwama district’s volatile Tral constituency.
Amanjeet Singh
Like hundreds of other Sikhs, 32 year old Manmeet Singh is on forefront to protest against the inaction of state government to nab the culprits who desecrated their holi book on the intervening night of 24 and 25 of March this year. The community is miffed over the cold response of the government towards the incidence and their inability to catch the culprits.
After passing of 18 days, no breakthrough has been made suggesting investigation is moving at a snail’s pace. So far police’s special investigation team has not been able to deliver on its promises of arresting the miscreants within few days. However youth like Manmeet say, they will leave no stone unturned to bring justice to the community.
The desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Gurduwara Chattipadshahi Dharamshalla Sighan in Khampora Sarai in Chadoora Budgam, is not an isolated event in the travesty of justice suffered by the minority community at the hands of government and administration. The community is feeling insecure and angry after the massacre of their 36 members in Chattisinghpora hamlet of south Kashmir in 2000 of which the culprits are yet to be booked.
“The truth behind the carnage is still a mystery and no serious attempts have been made to solve it,” the members of the minority community feel. “We feel persecuted at our own land”
Though National Conference patron, Farooq Abdhullah, then Chief Minister of the state has said that some powers did not want the massacre of 36 Sikhs in Chattisinghpora in 2000 to be investigated. He has said a book which will be released after his death will have chapter which will contain all the truth regarding the massacre.
Besides Chattisingpora event, many other crimes committed against Sikhs by miscreants have not been investigated. From time to time media has also failed to highlight our issues, alleges Manmeet
Right from the 1947, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir, Sikhs were the first casualty. The horrific stories on how Pakistani raiders killed Sikh men, raped women and looted their properties are enough to shock and disappoint. The irony was Sikhs were not granted any compensation for the loss they suffered. From that very time we had been treated pariah by the successive regimes, Jagjit Singh, another protestor from Mehjoor Nagar said.
Sikhs in Kashmir have strong reasons to believe that government after Kashmir’s accession with India has actually felt no need to listen to the woes of the community and treated them like second class citizens. The irony is few representatives of Kashmiri Sikhs in mainstream political parties have exploited the sentiments of Sikhs for personnel gains.
Also when Mehbooba Mufti was campaigning for her party in Tral during 2014 assembly elections, she visited a hamlet where Sikhs form a majority. She delivered a speech emphasising on the secular set-up of the region.
She said: “The National Conference and Congress Coalition Government have disappointed my Sikh brothers and sisters. I promise to you all, vote for Mufti Sahab, and my government within 1 month of its formation will extend the Minority Commission Act to the state,”
Besides, Peoples Democratic Party manifesto which were advertised on the front pages of valley based newspapers carried a specific section promising Sikhs of the state of fulfilling their demands. Other promises included setting up of Department of Punjabi in University of Kashmir, recruitment of Punjabi teachers in the state, which also were not fulfilled.
However, it has been more than two years when Peoples Democratic Party formed their government in alliance with Hindu Nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party, however like many other promises; Mehbooba Mufti has backtracked and even failed to identify religious and linguistic minorities and declare them as notified minorities.
Observers believe Peoples Democratic Party’s comfortable victory in Baramulla, Amira Kadal, Batamallo and Tral assembly seats can be attributed to the overwhelming support of the Sikhs. Though it backtracked in February when Government of Jammu and Kashmir told the Supreme Court that it opposes the creation of a minority commission in the state.
This was known when, Abdul Majid Bhat, Law secretary to Jammu and Kashmir Government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in response to PIL filed by Ankur Sharma, a lawyer from Jammu seeking directions from the apex court for implementation of the minority act in the state.
“Assertion of the PIL petitioner for setting up a state minority commission of the state of Jammu and Kashmir through proper legislation including time-bound identification and notification of religious and linguistic minorities by the state is also not legally maintainable. It is for the concerned state/union territory to set up a minority commission in their respective state/union territory”, said the government’s affidavit
The reason given by the state government was states like Gujarat, Goa, and Haryana have not appointed the minority commission and in such a condition Jammu and Kashmir should not be singled out.
Though Sikh community forms good number of vote share in few constituencies of the Kashmir division still they are deprived of nominations to the democratic institutions. Unfortunately power circles have ignored these facts; as a result Kashmir’s Sikh community remains unrepresented in upper and lower houses of the state. Ironically, no valley based political party in last held elections gave mandate to any Sikh candidate in the Kashmir division. Only Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) gave ticket to a Sikh, Avtar Singh from Pulwama district’s volatile Tral constituency.
Administration is also blamed of non-serious approach towards issues of the Sikhs.
The mysterious murder of the elderly Sikh lady in North Kashmir’s Baramulla District was not investigated properly. Despite indications from the medical reports that the victim was murdered with a sharp weapon however, the investigation team failed to nab the culprits until now.
“Yes, we failed to catch the culprit,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla, had said.
Last year, police also failed to crack the case of mysterious disappearance of the college going Sikh girl. She left for college from her home from Allouchi Bagh, never to return back. Sikh representatives have alleged police did not employ all their resources to trace the girl.
Though Sikh community tried to pressurise government to thoroughly investigate the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, it seems the justice for Sikh Community will remain a distant dream owing to callous attitude of government towards the issues of minority.
“The desecration of Guru Granth Sahib was not only a burglary attempt as being portrayed, an eyewitness of the event, Manjeet Singh said.
He recalls: “Previous time when thieves had embarked into the Gurudwara Hall, they had took away the donation box without even touching the sanctum sanatorium. This time the circumstances inside the main hall were totally different. The donation box, in which few thousands rupees were available was not even touched though the sacred book was torn.
The locals and eyewitness told the The Legitimate that the desecration of sacred artefacts was desperate attempt of disturbing the secular fabric of the region. However, they say the cost of injustice suffered at the hands of administration and successive governments will be of dire consequences.
The article appeared in print edition of April 11-18, 2017.
