Jammu, Mar 23 (KNO): Urging society’s elders to engage in honest introspection, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said a troubling system had taken roots in Jammu and Kashmir, where terror victims were treated as burdens while those linked to terror were made beneficiaries.
While addressing a function in Jammu organized to handover appointment letters to families of terror victims and other beneficiaries, LG Sinha, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said, “The elders of the society must ask themselves some tough questions- what kind of society we had become a few decades ago? How did Jammu Kashmir evolve into a system where the victim became a burden that time and those linked to terror were turned into beneficiaries? “
“I am confident that these questions will shake our conscience, because such practices hollowed out every value that makes a society just. Such darkness had extinguished the very spirit of law, trust, and coexistence," he said.
LG Sinha handed over appointment letters to 37 Next of Kins (NoKs) of victims of terrorism. The job letters were also handed over to 29 NoKs of government employees who lost their lives in service, and beneficiaries in age relaxation cases, under Jammu & Kashmir Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme-2022 and SRO 43.
The Lieutenant Governor said, “Those who were part of the terror ecosystem and managed to infiltrate government machinery in the past will face the law and they will be systematically removed from government jobs and punished as per the law.”
He said, “Those directly linked to terrorism are being dismissed from service, while decades-long neglected terror-victim families are being given government jobs to secure their economic and social dignity. I see this not merely as a policy correction, but as a new moral declaration for a new Jammu Kashmir.”
The Lieutenant Governor reiterated that it is his commitment to ensure that every terror victim’s family receive the justice, jobs, recognition and support they deserve after years of suffering.
“Terror victim families remained erased from society’s memory for decades. Among all these stories, the most painful and bitter truth is that these families were let down by the very system whose duty and primary obligation was to protect them,” he said, adding, “I do not see this merely as an administrative lapse but it was a civilisational failure of that time."
The Lieutenant Governor said that the terror victim families were harassed by elements of terror ecosystem and the situation was not simply injustice but it was the complete collapse of social morality.
The Lieutenant Governor vowed strongest action against terror ecosystem and terrorist supporters.
“I pledge to the families of terror victims that we will work with full commitment to secure their dignified and honourable lives. We will discharge every duty towards them with utmost seriousness, and we will not rest until justice reaches every family,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor observed that justice to terror victim families is not limited to only punishments but also healing the wounds and restoring dignity.
“Justice also lies in which stories society chooses to remember. Justice also means wiping the tears of grieving families, acknowledging their pain, and healing the wounds inflicted on their souls. Justice also means that the stories of terror-victim families, once forgotten, are now being rewritten with renewed memory and honour,” he said.
“We stand at a decisive turning point in J&K today. The youth of the Union Territory and terror victim families aspire to a bright future and wish to live a better life. It is our shared responsibility to make that future a reality and create the opportunities they deserve,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
“This is a clear message that a new order has arrived, one that will punish mercilessly those tied to terrorism and will firmly fulfil its duties to restore the dignity of victims. This moral declaration is the announcement of a system that defines justice not only in words, but in deeds,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
The Lieutenant Governor issued a stern warning to the remaining elements of the terror ecosystem and conflict entrepreneurs, stating that their era of terror is over.
“The people of Jammu Kashmir know fully well who shielded such terror elements, but that shield is now crumbling. I warn them that there is no longer any safe haven in Jammu Kashmir for terrorists or the networks that support them,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor reiterated that it is his commitment to ensure that every terror victim’s family receive the justice, jobs, recognition and support they deserve after years of suffering.
Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor, Dr Mandeep K. Bhandari; Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department, Shri M Raju; Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Shri Ramesh Kumar; Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Dr. Rakesh Minhas; senior officials, members of various social organisations and family members of victims of terrorism were present—(KNO)