Three days after the Anantnag office of the Social Welfare Department in Jammu and Kashmir withdrew a ‘unauthorisedly’ issued notice to 26 Kashmiri Pandit employees for their absence from duties, fresh notices have been issued to a number of other Kashmiri Pandit employees from their respective government departments, threatening them to either join work or face consequences, reports Times Now. A large number of Kashmiri Hindus have fled the valley after targeted attacks on minorities including Kashmiri Hindus by terrorists started a few weeks ago.
The media network shared a letter dated November 11, 2021, addressed to the employees by the Office of the Assistant Executive Officer, Mohura district, wherein it asked its employees to resume office in 2 days, failing which the department said that their salary from the month of November 2021 would be withheld in addition to action under CSR rule.
#NewsAlert | Fresh notices issued to Kashmiri Pandit employees appointed at Govt posts by their respective depts warning them of action if they don’t report to duty.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 13, 2021
Take a look at these reports by Pradeep Dutta. pic.twitter.com/NkPEZO4uC7
One government official alleged that for the past ten years, Kashmiri Pandits had been applying for jobs but they never join after acquiring it. He claimed that these Kashmiri Pandits are neither joining work nor quitting it. By doing this, they are also denying opportunities to other deserving candidates. In response to the attacks on civilians, the employer stated that residents in Kashmir have been experiencing similar dangers for years; nevertheless, has everyone left the valley and fled like them, he asked.
Responding to the repeated coercion, a Kashmiri Pandit speaking to the media network shared his apprehensions about returning to work due to the recent and continuous targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits by the terrorists in the valley. He is heard saying that the government department is pressuring them to return to work. He stated that, while they have continued to work online, they are afraid to return to the workplace in person. “We want to return, but the ground conditions must improve first”, said the Kashmiri Pandit speaking to Times Now.
The Kashmiri Pandit added that they have sought representation in which they demanded that they are granted a breathing period and not pressurised to get back to work in the valley. They also demanded that their salaries be released with immediate effect.
It may be recalled that on November 10 the Anantnag office of the Social Welfare Department in Jammu and Kashmir had withdrawn a notice issued to 26 Kashmiri Pandit employees threatening action against them for their absence from duties. A tweet posted by the District Information & Public Relations Centre of Anantnag said that the notice was issued ‘unauthorisedly’, and it stands withdrawn by the department.
The notice was withdrawn a day after the Office of the District Social Welfare Officer in Anantnag had issued a notice to 26 officers of the department, all of whom are Kashmiri Pandits, who have fled the area due to recent attacks on civilians by terrorists. The notice was issued seeking an explanation from the absent employees for “unauthorizedly remaining absent from duties”.
After the notice emerged on social media, Netizens slammed the Jammu and Kashmir administration, claiming that Kashmir Pandit employees had left the region to safeguard their lives after numerous minorities were killed in the union territory in recent weeks.
