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Minority status, benefits sought for Sikhs in J&K  

SRINAGAR: The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) in Jammu & Kashmir has demanded minority status for the Sikh community in the state and asked the government to provide special benefits and relief to the `troubled' community in the state.

They have also demanded a fresh probe in the massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora in Anantnag some nine years ago.

Describing Sikhs in the state as a microscopic community, APSCC convenor Jagmohan Singh Raina said, "despite the community being considered a minority in the country, the state has been denying it the benefits." "Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir as a whole face social and political problems mainly because they have had inadequate representation in the Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly, he said.

The representative body of Sikhs in Kashmir also demanded a fresh probe into the massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district nine years ago. "We demand impartial probe into the Chhatisinghpora and Mehjoornagar massacres of Sikhs to identify the culprits and bring them to justice," the APSCC convenor told reporters here on Sunday.

"Sikhs of Kashmir Valley live under fear-psychosis mainly due to the ignorance and indifference on part of the government.

This fear-psychosis has resulted into gradual decrease in the population of Sikhs in the Valley as our grown up children have developed propensity towards moving out in search of jobs, higher education and security," he added.

The association also demanded establishment of new Sikh body so that New Gurdwara Act is reformed, and new formed districts are brought under Gurdwara Act and land and other economical disputes are settled down with the government.

21 October 2009
 

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