J&K admin issues orders to hold salaries of Kashmiri Hindus on strike in Valley

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has issued orders to stop the salaries of Kashmiri Hindus employees protesting in the valley for months demanding their relocation to a safer place amid targeted killings of minorities by the militants.

The labour department of Kashmir and additional deputy commissioner, Anantnag, had on Wednesday issued orders to stop the salaries of Kashmiri migrant employees on strike in the valley

In his order, Deputy Labour Commissioner (DLC) Kashmir Ahmad Hussain Bhat directed all assistant labour commissioners across districts in the Kashmir valley to stop the salaries of these employees for September.

Bhat sought the leave accounts of all the employees of the department and said: "Further, salary for the month of September 2022 should not be drawn in respect of those PM package employees, who have remained absent during the month of September."

A similar order has been issued by the ADC Anantnag.

Irate over the orders, striking employees intensified their agitation, which entered 133rd day on Thursday, calling the order a harassment and arm-twisting move to break their agitation.

Amid slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'We Want Justice', and 'We Want Relocation', hundreds of employees held protests under the banner of All Migrant (Displaced) Employees Association Kashmir (AMEAK) one of the organisations spearheading the agitation.

"It is a step towards harassment of the community. It is a conspiracy against us.

"We honestly performed our duty for the last ten years in Kashmir until the selective killings of our employees - like Rahul Bhat threatened the life and dignity of our community employees in the valley," a protester told reporters here.