KP employees demanding release of their pending salaries and relocation to Jammu stage sit-in
Jammu, Feb 16: Kashmiri Pandit employees protesting over pending salaries and relocation to Jammu staged an overnight sit-in outside the BJP office here and refused to budge till their demands are met.
The Kashmiri Pandit employees have been on protest for the past 287 days after their colleagues were killed by terrorists in the valley.
They have alleged that while terrorists are out to target and kill them in Kashmir, LG administration is starving their families by stopping salaries for the past 8 months, and not releasing it even on their biggest festival Maha Shivratri.
"We have been on round the clock protest in front of the BJP office here. We are seeking release of months-long salaries. We will not move out from here till the order to release our salaries is given," a protesting employee Ashwani Pandita told reporters here.
"Even on Maha Shivratri, we are denied our salaries," he said.
The Kashmiri Pandit employees are seeking written assurance from the Lieutenant Governor administration about their safety and security during their duty in Kashmir.
A female protester who is sitting on protest with her minor child said that LG administration is starving their families by stopping salaries.
"LG administration should give us written assurance about our safety and security that we won't be killed by terrorists while performing our duties in Kashmir", she said.
The employees said that they were performing their duties boldly for the past decade in Kashmir despite militancy and did not run away.
"But the selective and targeted killings of nearly 22 minority community members have created fear psychosis among the community. They do not want to become sitting ducks for target practice of terrorists in valley. Government has done nothing to stop it", Pandita said.
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Explosive device kills 13, injures 38 on bus in southwestern Colombia as violence persists
Bogota (Colombia) (PTI): An explosive device killed 13 people travelling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country's army chief described as a “terrorist act" that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates.
Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.
Gen. Hugo Lopez, commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act" and blamed the network of a man known as “Ivan Mordisco” — one of Colombia's most wanted figures — and the Jaime Martínez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.
Neither Ivan Mordisco nor the Jaime Martínez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the attack on X.
“Those who carried out the attack and killed seven civilians — and wounded 17 others — in Cajibío — many of them Indigenous people — are terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers,” he wrote.
The attack is the latest in a spate of explosions that have attempted to target public infrastructure. At least 26 incidents have taken place in the past two days in southwestern Colombia, which Lopez said have only affected civilians.
They included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones earlier on Saturday. No one was hurt.
On Friday, two vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated near military units in Cali and Palmira, causing material damage.
The escalation of violence in that region — a territory contested by illegal armed groups linked to drug trafficking — prompted the mobilisation of high-ranking officials on Saturday. Led by Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez, the delegation that includes regional governors and local authorities, was meeting in Palmira when the deadly explosion occurred.
“These criminals seek to instil fear, but we will respond with firmness,” Sanchez said on X.
Meanwhile, Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, has called upon the national government to provide “immediate support.” In a message on X, Toro called for a reinforcement of public security forces, enhanced intelligence operations and “decisive actions” against crime in the face of a “terrorist-level escalation.”
According to authorities, Cauca and Valle del Cauca serve as a critical hub for illicit activities of illegal armed groups vying for control over sea and river access routes leading to the port of Buenaventura — a key transit point used to traffic drugs to Central America and Europe.
The government has also offered a reward of more than 1 million dollars for information leading to the capture of “Marlon,” who is identified as the leader of the region's dissident group. On Friday, local authorities offered more than USD 14,000 for information leading to the identification and location of those behind the attacks in Cali and Palmira.
