Srinagar, Aug 24: A New Delhi based Sikh body on Tuesday said the anonymous “threatening letters” addressed to some persons of Sikh community in the Valley was “handiwork of miscreants.” It urged the government to probe the matter and expose the culprits.
“People of the majority community including separatist and mainstream leaders have assured us of protection to members of the Sikh community. We met Geelani Sahib and Mufti Sahib. They assured protection to Sikhs. We will also take up the matter with the Chief Minister,” president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK), Jasjit Singh told reporters here.
He urged government to order a probe and expose such elements that are hell bent upon maligning the composite culture of the Valley.
“At some places people from our community are a bit scared but they have full faith on the majority community. We can’t rule out that some agencies are behind this,” said Singh, who was flanked by other senior members of the organization.
He said the Sikh families told him that they were safe in the Valley.
About the letters which had been hand-written/printed on plain paper sheets in English, Singh said he had seen a few of them. “This is all rubbish. I talked to people from my community. They termed it handwork of miscreants. We have concluded some agencies working here were behind it because they don’t want peace in Kashmir. They want violence should continue as they survive on it,” he said.
Singh said after meeting people here he would carry message to Sikh brethren outside that Sikhs are safe in Kashmir. “I will stop them from visiting Kashmir and tell them they are fine,” Singh said.
On the recent killings by police and CRPF in the Valley, Singh said people from majority community were facing lot of problems. “Sikhs are against innocent killings in Kashmir. These sadden us. Likewise the issue of the letters has saddened us. But we are hopeful that decades old unity among two communities will triumph,” Singh added.
According to inputs from various Sikh bodies there are more than 70,000 Sikhs living in valley, scattered across different villages.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST