For the first time, the Sikhs in Kashmir have decided to field candidates from the community in several constituencies in the upcoming assembly polls in the Union Territory (UT). The move comes ahead of the Assembly polls which according to the Supreme Court must be held in September.
A decision in this regard has been taken by the All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC). Jagmohan Singh Raina, chairman of APSCC, told THE WEEK that they will not align with any political party and put up independent candidates in several places across Kashmir and Jammu.
"We have decided to field Sikh candidates in Jammu and Kashmir on assembly seats where our community has presence," he said. "We focus on Kashmir but discussions are on regarding fielding candidates in Jammu as well."
He said they would seek the support of the majority community, Paharis, Gujjars and others. Raina added that the Sikhs have a good presence in Tral in Pulwama, Baramulla, Pahalgam and Srinagar. "We will support them in their genuine demands."
He said the demands of Sikhs have been consistently ignored despite petitioning the government, including the President, the Home Minister, and the Chief Minister. "Before Article 370 was revoked, Punjabi was taught in schools and colleges in Jammu and Kashmir,"’ he said. "After the abrogation, it has since been dropped from the curriculum, despite Dogri and Pahari being dialects of the Punjabi language."
He said Chattisinghpora case, where 35 Sikhs were killed, multiple inquiries, including by the CBI, were conducted, but none yielded any results. "For many years, the community has been demanding minority status, but they were told it was impossible due to Article 370," he said. "Since its removal, nothing has been done regarding their demands."
He said Sikhs have migrated from villages to towns in Kashmir for safety, but they did not leave Kashmir.
Raina added that the government created several problems that caused Sikhs in Kashmir to suffer economically. “When the Prime Minister announced 700 jobs for non-migrant minorities in Kashmir, the government did not implement it due to fears that 80 per cent of the non-migrants were Sikhs, which would affect the Non-Migrant Kashmiri Pandits (NMKPs) prospects,’" he said.
"Later, the government modified when Mufti Muhamamd Sayyed was Chief Minister to favour the NMKPs."
He said the APSCC also met with the Delimitation Commission and suggested ways to ensure fair representation. However, despite their suggestions, two seats were reserved for the Kashmiri Pandits, with none for the non-migrant Sikhs. "To address this, the Sikh community has decided to assert its presence in constituencies like Baramulla, Tral, Amira Kadal, and Pahalgam," he said.
