Srinagar, Mar 27 (KNS): Several families whose relatives were killed by terrorists have approached the Jammu and Kashmir administration with an unusual offer, they are willing to return the ex-gratia amounts they received in the aftermath of the killings, provided the government gives them what they say truly matters: a government job.

 

"We are ready to return every rupee," said a youth from Budgam, who was three years old when his father was abducted by terrorists and never returned. "What is ?4 lakh? It is nothing in front of a lifetime of uncertainty. We spent it surviving. Now we want to live with dignity, with stability. Give us a job. Take the money back."

 

The families' appeal comes weeks after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha handed over appointment letters to the next of kin of deceased government employees under the Jammu and Kashmir Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme (RAS). That gesture, the families said, lit a spark of hope in homes that had long resigned themselves to being remembered only as case files.

 

"We watched those families receive appointment letters. We felt happy for them. But we also asked ourselves, what about us?" said a woman from Pulwama, whose brother was shot dead by terrorists. "My brother was not a government employee. He was just a man trying to feed his family. And then one day, he was gone. We got ?4 lakh. That was supposed to be closure. But closure does not put food on the table every month."

 

For years, families of civilians killed in terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir have been offered one-time compensation under various central and state schemes. 

 

The families now making their case are not asking for charity, they insist. They are asking for the same principle of compassionate rehabilitation that the government has already applied to dependents of deceased employees.

 

"We are not demanding anything that hasn't already been done for others," said another family member from Anantnag, requesting anonymity.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel"The government has shown it believes in giving jobs to those who have lost their loved ones. All we are saying is extend that belief to us. We are victims of terrorism too. We lost our people to the same enemy."

 

The appeal has struck a chord in several districts, with families from Bandipora, Pulwama, Anantnag, and Shopian quietly organizing to submit individual representations through local representatives. The common thread in their stories: a one-time payment accepted under duress or in ignorance, now long exhausted, and a present marked by economic precarity.

 

Since assuming office, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has made the welfare of terrorism-affected families a recurring theme of his administration. 

 

The expedited distribution of appointment letters to next of kin of deceased employees has been among the most visible of these efforts. But the question now being posed by a new set of families is whether that compassion can be extended beyond the government workforce.

 

"We are grateful to the LG for what he has done," said a group of families in a joint statement shared with Kashmir News Service (KNS). "But we hope he will look at us too. We are ready to return the settlement amount. We are ready to prove our case. All we ask is that we are not reduced to a one-time transaction."

 

For the young man from Bandipora, now in his twenties, the memory of the night his father did not return is still raw. The ?4 lakh has long been spent. His mother, he said, still waits for a knock that will never come.

 

"I do not want to spend the rest of my life looking back," he said adding, "I want to look forward. Give me a job. Let me work. Let me show that even after everything, a family that lost everything can rebuild."(KNS)