Patwaris defer strike, give month’s time to govt

Srinagar: Patwaris have deferred their UT-wide pen-down strike for a month, after discussions with the government.
The logjam between the government and patwaris on Saturday witnessed a breakthrough as the All J&K Patwar Association (AJKPA) announced to defer their strike for a month.
Addressing a press conference, AJKPA president Abdul Majeed Malla, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that after a series of “online and offline” meetings with the administration, they have given a month’s time to the government to fulfill their “demands”.
“A series of deliberations were held with the administration on our demands where we both placed our positions. The government asked for three months, but we gave a month’s time to resolve our genuine demands,” he said.
Malla said they have not permanently called off their strike but only deferred it by a month. “We have proved that 100 percent of primary members were supportive of the strike and that they should not be tested again otherwise they will be forced to go back to the strike,” he said.
The AJKPA president further said, “The government has declared all our demands as genuine and also shared minutes of meeting with us. They have asked for the time to solve our demands within a stipulated time.”
Following a charter of demands, the patwaris’ association earlier stated that they have been fighting for their “legitimate demands” for the last ten years. On March 1, 2023, they called for an indefinite strike and refused to resume their duties till their “demands” were not met—(KNO)