Politics

J & K State Government treating martyrs as orphans

Unlike other states J & K State Government fails to acknowledge its fallen soldiers

September 27, 2016

J & K State Government treats its martyrs like orphans

Spends crores of rupees on Separatist leaders, not a single penny for martyrs

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]E[/dropcap]very time issue of Kashmir comes under the scanner at the International level Indian government performs a ritual of issuing a traditional statement, “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India”. At present the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is serving the people of India and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir the ruling party (BJP) is running an alliance govt with its regional partner Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But the integral part of India behaves differently when it comes to show solidarity with the brave soldiers who attain martyrdom in the line of duty.

Instead of bestowing martyr’s status to jawans sacrificing their lives the J & K State Government is apparently according them the status of ‘orphans’.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]ill date not a single penny of compensation has been announced for the next of kith and kin of two brave hearts Subedar Karnail Singh and Havaldar Ravi Paul. These two soldiers were among 18 soldiers martyred in the deadly Uri attack on September 18, 2016.

In total contrast to this the J & K State Government spends crores of rupees in ensuring security of Separatist leaders, Rehabilitation policy of surrendered militants and stone pelters.

Between 2004 and 2015, the J & K State Government spent approximately Rs 10 crores ($1.5 million) to rehabilitate more than 500 surrendered militants.

From time to time, the stone pelters managed to extract their pound of flesh under the amnesty scheme and also earned postings in security forces via special recruitment drives. However, every time jawans serving in the Army or paramilitary forces attain martyrdom, the State Government seldom announced adequate compensation for the next of their kin.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he most recent example of the State Government’s apathy is the fact that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is yet to announce any compensation for the brave soldiers from Jammu. Ironically, Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand, had already announced compensation for soldiers from their States.

In January 2016, when the strategic airbase in Pathankot was targeted by a fidayeen group, one NSG Commando, one Garud Commando of the IAF and five men from Defence Security Corps (DSC) had attained martyrdom. The Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab had immediately announced ex-gratia for the next of kin of the bravehearts hailing from their respective States.

At that time also, J & K State Government had failed to come to the aid of the brave son of the soil Lance Naik Mool Raj who was among the seven soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty while defending the Pathankot airbase.

In June 2015 when 18 soldiers were ambushed in Manipur, jawans of 6 Dogra Regiment hailing from Jammu were martyred, but none of their families received compensation from the State Government.

See the infographic below for more details:

Note:
1. The conversion rate used in this article is 1 USD = 66.51 Rupees.
2. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.