Days after mobs in winter capital Jammu went on a rampage, damaging property and intimidating Kashmiris after the Lethpora attack, Kashmir’s business community on Tuesday said the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), mandated to play a business advisory role, was indulging in “divisive policies”.
Several leading business bodies also blamed the state administration for failing to react immediately to mob violence in Jammu, which they said resulted into situation going out of hand last Friday.
Addressing a press conference, chairman Kashmir Economic Alliance Muhammad Yaseen Khan said Jammu bandh call given by the JCCI on Friday became a “tipping point” for arson and mob violence. Khan said the BJP-led central government has failed to protect Kashmiris across the country.
“They (JCCI) knew Friday is a sensitive day for a strike to be observed. They could have been more responsible and shown restrain instead of playing a contentious role by calling a strike,” said Khan who also heads Kashmir Traders Manufacturers Federation.
Condemning selective targeting of Kashmiris in various parts of the country, Khan appealed to the international community to interfere and stop harassment and intimidation of Kashmiri students.
“It is no less than broad daylight goondaism what we saw in Jammu and other parts where a Kashmiri today feels insecure. Role of the divisional commissioner Jammu and IGP is condemnable because they were missing from ground for the first four hours and the rioters had a free hand.”
“We don’t want to take any extreme step that will have a bearing on our student community outside but our patience must not be tested,” Khan said.
Khan said in order to ensure safety of Kashmiris outside the Valley, the business community has been constantly in touch with trade community and India Inc., and also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally intervene.
“Constant efforts are on to be in touch with traders and businesspersons outside the Valley so that they can create some awareness against mob attacks. There are so many non-locals in Kashmir but they never feel unsafe. Knowing that innocents are being targeted, why can’t PM Modi issue a statement against mob violence,” said Khan.
Also addressing the media, Muhammad Ashraf Mir, president of Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK), said it was ironical that even students availing various government-sponsored educational courses are not being spared by unruly mobs in various parts of the country.
Mir said for the first time Kashmiris have been made to feel so insecure that “one has to now think twice before travelling to other parts of country”.
“FIRs are being registered against Kashmiri students for making comments on social media. But communal people who are spitting venom on videos against Kashmiris are not being booked,” said Mir.
At another press conference, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) condemned harassment of Kashmiris in Jammu and other parts of India and JCCI’s call for Jammu Bandh on February 15 against the Pulwama attack.
“Jammu Chamber had earlier agreed to support issues of common interest of trade bodies and not create situations vitiating atmosphere but they have failed to live up to the expectations. There is no doubt that the cause of the violence was the Jammu Bandh,” said KCCI senior vice-president Nasir Hamid Khan.
Khan urged the JCCI to adopt “multidimensional thinking before taking any such decisions in future and to exercise restraint and take effective steps to protect regional harmony in the state,” he said, while urging the people to not circulate provocative content on social media.