New Delhi:
It was a special invitation from Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi that got a delegation of sarpanches from Jammu and Kashmir to the national capital. Fear, concern and anger are the over-riding emotions that these men find hard to conceal. And why not? They are the representatives of the people at the grassroots, working as leaders at the village level, in the remotest parts of the troubled state, who are battling an everyday fight for survival.
The meeting assumes greater significance coming as it does following the deaths of at least three sarpanches in the state after a LeT poster warning sarpanches to quit their posts or face dire consequences. It also comes a day after Rahul Gandhi openly criticised the Omar Abdullah government, saying sarpanches were given no power.
Anil Sharma, General secretary, all J&K Panchayat coordination committee said, "We will not let democracy die in J&K. We don't want a repeat of 1989 in the state. Someone (sarpanch) is in Uri, Doda, Baramulla... remote areas where the closest police station is 10 km away. We also have families. It's not just about facing guns or bullets, if a few people come to their homes in these remote areas, sarpanches won't be able to even protect themselves from being over-powered, bullets or no bullets."
Shafiq Mir, Convenor of J&K panchayat told NDTV, "The incidents didn't occur suddenly due to which our colleagues got killed. In fact, the threat posters were posted by militants on April 16, 2012. We had written to the government of J&K then that the posters warned us of dire consequences of we didn't resign as sarpanches within a week. In spite of this, the state government didn't take any action regarding our safety and security."
In the meeting, that last for about an hour, the delegation claims it got an assurance from Rahul Gandhi that he would intervene.
They put forth three demands seeking Rahul Gandhi's intervention:
To seek compensation for the families of those sarpanches who had been killed.
To visit the state and see first-hand the circumstances in which they live and work.
To provide more security to sarpanches working at the grassroots.
Shafiq Mir also added, "After these deaths, a fear psyche is prevailing in the state of J&K and more than 700 panches and sarpanches have resigned."
Yesterday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the threats from the LeT we're an act of cowardice.
Mir though is not impressed with the Chief Minister's assurances. "Omar abdullah says it's the LeT's act of cowardice. If he is so brave, then he should step or from the security cordon that he enjoys. This is all being done for political gain. In fact we are the ones who are brave who are continuing to uphold democracy in spite of these threats."
The delegation that also met MoS for Home is now hoping that the assurances they have got from the Central government and from the Congress General Secretary will translate into concrete action and protection for them on the ground.
As the sarpanch from Doda, Fazal Alam Wani put it, "It's up to the government now on what kind of message it wants to send to the people of J&K. It's not about resignations, if this time they don't support the sarpanches, no one will even dare to file nomination papers the next time."