At a time when the BJP-PDP alliance Government headed by Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu & Kashmir has come under attack for announcing ex-gratia relief/compensation to the next of kin of protesters killed during the five-month-long unrest in Kashmir Valley, the same dispensation has silently shifted the blame for delaying compensation to the next of kin of Uri martyrs on their Army units.
In the last 24 months, next of kin of only four bravehearts from the State have been compensated by the Government. There are nine other soldiers hailing from the J&K whose next of kin have not been compensated by the State Government for a variety of reasons.
As many as 18 soldiers had attained martyrdom in the line of duty on September 18, 2016 when a group of fidayeen carried out a dastardly attack inside an Army camp located close to the line of Control in Uri.
The attack on the Uri Army camp even provoked the Indian Army to launch surgical strikes inside Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir to destroy terror training camps.
Out of these 18 soldiers Havaldar Ravi Paul of village Sarba in district Samba and Subedar Karnail Singh of village Shibu Chack, Bishnah, belonged to Jammu region. All other State Governments had instantly announced compensation to the next of kin of brave hearts barring J&K.
On Wednesday the Minister in-charge State Home Department informed the State Assembly in the form of a written reply to a question submitted by Rajiv Jasrotia, BJP MlA from Kathua stating, “The ex-gratia cases in respect of next of kin (NoK) of URI attack of 2016 have not been received from the concerned units/authorities so far in the Home Department”.
The State Government in response to another query clarified the next of kin of six jawans of Dogra regiment who attained martyrdom in Manipur in June 2015 were not even eligible for sanction of ex-gratia. Next of kin of lance Naik Mool Raj, who laid down his life inside Pathankot airbase was too given raw deal by the State Government.
After hanging his boots lN Mool Raj was serving in the Defence Security Corps at the time of the fidayeen strike on the airbase.
Referring to the Manipur attack the Minister-in-charge stated in the written reply, “In terms of Government Order No. 723-GR (GAD) of 1990 read with amendments , the Next of Kins of only those Army/ CAPF personnel who get killed within the territorial jurisdiction of State of J&K in militancy-related incidents, violence attributable to breach of law and order etc including while on leave/inter station movement, are eligible for sanction of ex-gratia.”
This raises many eye brows as jawans of the Indian Army hailing from different States were being subjected to differential treatment for no fault of theirs. A retired Army officer told The Pioneer, “If a group of jawans participating in an operation attain martyrdom they cannot be treated differently and next of their kins should not be discriminated too on the basis of their native States.” The retired officer urged the Union/State Governments to amend the rules to end this disparity to boost the morale of the soldiers.
According to the Minister-in-charge Home department since January 2015 the state government has sanctioned ex-gratia of Rs 1.66 crores in respect of 77 Army/CAPF personnel killed since January 2015 till date. Out of these 77 only four soldiers from Jammu and Kashmir were handed over compensation of Rs 5 lakh while next of kin of others were paid 2 lakhs each through the concerned commanding officer.The four brave hearts were identified as Naik Gurmail Singh of 24 Punjab, Naik Rajeshvar Singh of 16 Punjab, Rifleman Bashir Ahmad War of 160 Inf Bn TA, and Capt Tushar Mahajan of 9 Para (special forces).