Kashmiri migrant pandit youths stage protest outside Raj Bhavan

Scores of Kashmiri migrant pandit youths Saturday staged a demonstration outside Raj Bhavan here against the "delay" in releasing the final list of candidates selected under Prime Minister's special employment package some months back.

The protesters, carrying banners and placards, assembled outside Raj Bhavan and staged the sit-in, seeking intervention of the Governor Satya Pal Malik in releasing the final list of candidates selected under Prime Minister's special employment package by J&K services selection board (SSB).

The protesters shouted slogans like we want justice and save our future.

The delay in releasing the list is tantamount to grave injustice with over 1100 candidates who have passed the examination in April and completed all formalities by July," claimed Vijay Koul Budgami, one of the protesters.

We have been running from pillar to post for the last two months to know the reason for the delay but failed, forcing us to stage the sit-in outside the governor's house to seek his intervention, he added.

Over 1600 posts were advertised by the SSB under the PM's special employment package for Kashmiri migrants in November last year.

The government extended the benefits of the package to non-migrant pandits by amending J&K Migrants (Special Drive) Recruitment Rules, 2009, making 561 non-migrant unemployed Kashmiri Pandits eligible for the government jobs in response to high court directive after a Kashmiri pandit organisation in the valley moved the court and pleaded for the community aspirants to be allowed to apply for the posts notified under the scheme.

The Sikh community also moved the high court and demanded extension of the package to the community as well under the new government order following which the court, in an ad interim order, had said subject to objections and till next date of hearing, no appointment shall be finalized and made.

It clearly stated that the order is interlocutory and is limited by time as well valid till next date of hearing only which was February 12, 2018. No orders were passed on the given date and therefore there is no order in force to stop even finalizing of final appointment list, Budgami said.

He said the selected migrant youths are in great distress as after leaving their private jobs outside the state in the hope of serving their motherland are idle for over a year now.