By NAK
Jammu: Seventy prominent citizens of Jammu belonging to different walks of life, in a meeting convened here by social activist Balraj Puri, appealed to the people of all religions of Jammu to unitedly fight for their common cause and maintain communal harmony whatever be the provocations.
The meeting was presided over by Sardar Balbir Singh, President Social Awareness Front.
In his introductory remarks Puri dealt with long term, short term and immediate causes of the discontent of Jammu. Over centralized system, he added, was the basic cause of regional tensions. He suggested a federal and decentralized system to reconcile interests and aspirations of all ethnic and religious communities. The way, the state government bungled on the issue of land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, he said, first created massive mass upsurge in Kashmir, followed by similar turmoil in Jammu.
Death of Kuldeep Verma and the manner in which his dead body was manhandled and dishonored by the police further enraged the sentiments of people and resulted in a situation which had gone beyond the control of any political party, he added. He called upon the political leaders and intellectuals, of the state to give serious attention to all the three set of causes responsible for the present situation.
Those who spoke in a frank discussion included Amjad Afridi, President, Scope,Prof DK Rampal, Retired Professor,DK Khajuria, President Senior Citizens Welfare Council, Suchwant Singh , Ex Director Agriculture Hotel Employees Union DR Sharma, Abdul Gani Kohli, Hardev Raina Jaspal Singh Mangal , President Akali Dal (Amritsar),KK Gandotra, Gandhian worker, Dr. JL Gupta Comrade Bhagwan Singh, Comrade Sukhdev Singh, Khalid Hussain ( Punjabi Writer)
The group decided to meet periodically to take stock of the developing situation and hold mohalla wise meetings of the like minded people. The meeting started with a condolence resolution over the tragic death of Kuldeep Verma and held two minute silent prayer for the peace of the departed soul.
Balbir Singh, in his presidential remarks said that ultimately all problems have to be resolved through dialogue, between political parties, interest group and finally with the government.