JAMMU: The report on Kishtwar riots released today held the Jammu and Kashmir Government ‘responsible’ for the August 9 violence in which four people were killed.
The initial report was released by the members of civil society this afternoon by the sub-committee constituted to ascertain the ground situation in August 9 Kishtwar violence.
The five-member committee comprised of MLA Ashwani Sharma; Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, Human Rights Activist; Jitendra Singh, Intellectual and columnist; Dineshwar Singh Jamwal, Civil Rights Activist and KCS Mehta, Educationist.
The report while the blaming the state government said, “the government has failed to provide any relief to the victims of the carnage.
“It speaks volumes about the non-seriousness of the government and the administration.
“We recommend that the compensation, as declared by the government and as enhanced vide recent cabinet decision, proportionate to the individual losses, be provided to the victims of the violence forthwith.
“There is a visible failure of the government in Kishtwar district in context of the August 9 horrendous incidents.
“The misleading statements about the imposition of curfew, its timing and actual position on ground, and seeking the help of army needs a thorough probe,” it said.
It further said the Hindu minority community in Kishtwar is under a serious threat of ethnic cleansing and the threat needs to be examined by the Civil Society and the government is requested to bring out a white paper on the subject.
“The VDCs are a big source of ‘sense of security’ for the minorities in the hilly areas and particularly of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts and they need to be strengthened further, irrespective of its ‘political fall-out’, in the national interest,” said the report.
It further said the guilty, whosoever, should be punished as per law to instil confidence in the peace loving citizens of the Kishtwar district.
It added that interaction between various sections of population and the civil and police administration needs to be given a priority involving members of political and social organisations at all levels so that the issues could be sorted out without fail.
“Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, being the Home Minister of the state too, has not visited Kishtwar till date,” the report said, adding that this is a sorry state of affairs, particularly when his deputy has been forced to resign under pressure.
The Sub-committee, however, said that final report on the Kishtwar violence will be released soon.
“It is for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, it has been observed that the Kishtwar violence was a ‘state-sponsored’ as despite administration being in the town, no action was taken in the violence-hit region,” one of the members of the Sub-Committee Jitender Singh alleged.
