Sikhs will not support any party in polls, come up with own candidates in J&K: APSCC

Srinagar, Sep 23: All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) on Saturday said the successive State and Central governments sidelined the community and now it will come up with candidates among Sikhs in the upcoming elections in Jammu & Kashmir. It has decided to carry out a mass contact programme across Kashmir from next week.
“As the elections are round the corner, we at APSCC have decided to change the strategy and we will no longer support candidates of any party whatsoever,” the APSCC chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said while addressing the media persons here.
“Since the mass contact programme would be carried out across the length and breadth of the state we will find out probable candidates with the first preference being the local body elections that can be announced at any point in time. Instead of beating around the bush, we will come up with candidates among the community. This will ensure that the power lies with the community itself and it would not be used as a vote bank furthermore,” he said, adding, “In this regard, from the next week, the members of the community would visit each and every village of Kashmir valley for mass contact with the Sikh community.”
The press conference was addressed by APSCC Chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina and others including Principal Niranjan Singh, Ex President GPC Pulwama, Sant Singh, Indumeet Singh, Devinder Singh, and Gurudwara committee members from Kashmir valley including Navtej Singh, Engg. Jetinder Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sukhbirb Singh, Harpal Singh, Nishant Singh.
However, in this whole scenario we will seek the support of the majority community as we have shared happiness and sorrow with the members of the majority community during turmoil and crises, he said. “We have been with them through thick and thin and we will seek their support for the candidate where we feel that our candidate has a fair chance of winning. I am sure the people will support us and as such the strong bond of Kashmiriyat will be there forever.”
For the last so many years, the APSCC has been supporting different political parties from time to time with the hope that the Sikh minority will get its due share and its demands will be fulfilled. However, this never happened and the APSCC has now decided to boycott the political parties and their leaders, Raina said. Instead, we will come up with young and energetic people from within the community so that some difference is made with respect to the fortunes of the community members, he added.
Raina said, “Neither the successive governments of Jammu & Kashmir nor the people at the Centre have resolved the issues of the Sikh community despite the fact that the community is a minority community. Over the last many decades, we have been meeting the people at the helm with legitimate demands of the Sikh community.”
The Sikh leaders said the chief ministers of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state and governors were contacted with the hope that there would be light at the end which was not to be. “Every time our issues were given a cold shoulder with the people at the helm being so arrogant and they were not ready to listen to our genuine demands let alone find a solution to the problems being confronted by the community members,” they said.
The APSCC chairman said the Delimitation Commission which was set up to ensure that justice is meted out to the various groups and communities lost its relevance after the LG administration of Jammu & Kashmir recommended reservation of two seats for a particular community.
He said the Central government and union territory administration are serious towards the establishment and reshaping of the Waqf Board, Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, Amarnath Yatra but no seriousness is being shown in the implementation of Gurdwara Endowment Act. “Despite the intervention of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha the election of Jammu & Kashmir Gurdwara Parbandhak Board could not be conducted,” Raina said.