Jammu and Kashmir govt denies reports of harassment of Sikhs in Valley

Jammu and Kashmir government has strongly denied reports of harassment of Sikh community members in Kashmir Valley.

A government spokesman said such reports maligned the secular image of the people of Kashmir outside the state.

He said that letters written by any one mischievous person can't be projected as the view of the majority. 

The spokesman said that all the communities were living amicably in the Valley and cited the instance of a group of people, who performed the last rites of a person belonging to another community just the other day, which was hailed by the entire media.

Kashmir Valley is the bedrock of strong and secular ideology, the spokesman said. 

The spokesman said that three weeks ago an isolated ugly incident occurred at Tral in Pulwama district, which was unanimously condemned by the entire population.

Even chief minister Omar Abdullah intervened in the matter and gave an assurance to a Sikh delegation that met him recently that all steps would be taken to strengthen mutual ties between all the communities living in the Valley. 

The spokesman said Muslim and Sikh communities in the Valley have a century-old relationship based on mutual respect and love for each other.