Soldiers and the family members of jawans from Jammu & Kashmir, who have attained martyrdom in the line of duty, are being treated as ‘lesser mortals’ and are being given a raw deal by successive State Governments.
Ironically, the J&K Government has been spending crores of rupees annually on the welfare and security needs of the hawkish Hurriyat leaders, but when it comes to compensating grieving families of martyred soldiers the coffers of the J&K Government run dry.
Between 2004 and 2015, the State Government spent approximately Rs 10 crore to rehabilitate more than 500 surrendered militants. From time to time, they managed to extract their pound of flesh under the amnesty scheme and also earned postings in security forces via special recruitment drives.
However, every time jawans serving in the Army or paramilitary forces attain martyrdom, the State Government seldom announced adequate compensation for the next of their kin.
The most recent example of the State Government’s apathy is the fact that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after paying homage to the soldiers martyred in Uri has so far not announced any compensation for the soldiers’ families.
Her deputy, Professor Nirmal Singh, too chose to attend a cleanliness drive in Khardongla area of leh on Monday instead of attending the cremations of two bravehearts in Jammu.
This is in direct contrast to the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand, who announced compensation for soldiers from their States.
In January 2016, when the strategic airbase in Pathankot was targeted by a fidayeen group, one NSG Commando, one Garud Commando of the IAF and five men from Defence Security Corps (DSC) had attained martyrdom.
The Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab had immediately announced ex-gratia for the next of kin of the bravehearts hailing from their respective States.
At that time also, J&K had failed to come to the aid of the brave son of the soil lance Naik Mool Raj who was among the seven soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty while defending the Pathankot airbase.
In June 2015 when 18 soldiers were ambushed in Manipur, jawans of 6 Dogra Regiment hailing from Jammu were martyred, but none of their families received compensation from the State Government.
According to the record of the State Assembly under the Government’s Rehabilitation Policy for militants Rs 6.48 crore were spent on immediate grant of 1.5 lakh for FDR and Rs 3.11 crore were spent on paying stipend to surrendered militants at the rate of Rs 2,000 for a period of three years after the date of surrender between 2004-2015.
A record number of 551 militants surrendered between 2004-08 when the PDP-Congress alliance ruled the State while 57 militants surrendered between 2009-2014 during Omar Abdullah’s rule.
On the other hand, 453 misguided youth (ex-militants) have returned home via the Nepal route along with their wives (Pakistani nationals) and children after the Omar Abdullah Government notified a separate surrender policy in November 2010 for youth willing to return home without guns in their hands.
Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and former Minister on Tuesday criticised the BJP-PDP combine for undue delay in announcing ex-gratia and compensation to the families of the Uri martyrs.
Singh also demanded posthumous awards to such martyrs with immediate announcement of adequate ex-gratia to their families.
Singh further condemned the State Government for its neglect in payment of ex-gratia to the family of Chamel Singh who was killed in Kot lakhpat Jail of Pakistan. He said that Sarbjit Singh who was also killed in similar circumstances in the same jail was given the status of a martyr by the Punjab Government besides his family members having been given ex-gratia of Rs 1.25 crore in addition to two jobs in the family.
He deplored that the senior leaders of the BJP who had even gone to shoulder the mortal remains of Chamel Singh when his body was brought from lahore after a long gap of 57 days, had intriguingly adopted a muted silence over the issue after coming to power.