DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The AAP on Sunday took out candle marches across Punjab against the recent killing of civilians by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab AAP MLAs and spokespersons Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Aman Arora said party leaders and volunteers took out candle marches at all district headquarters of the state to pay homage to the civilians killed in Jammu and Kashmir. Condemning the targeted killings of minorities (Sikhs and Hindus) in the Valley, the AAP leaders demanded that the Narendra Modi-led central government protect the communities, including Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs. "The occurrence of terror activities in recent days is a matter of very serious concern. The central government should take it seriously and strengthen the security arrangements for the minorities," Sandhwan and Arora said in a joint statement. Taking a dig at the Modi government, the AAP leaders said claims of the central government of curbing terrorism and maintaining peace in the Valley with abrogation of Article 370 and demonetisation, have turned out to be false and hollow. They alleged that incidents of violence were increasing in Kashmir and the Modi government had completely failed to provide security and tackle terrorism; and was now silent on the deaths of the civilians. They said an attempt was being made to create a sense of fear amongst the minority communities besides encouraging communal strife in the Valley. Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a number of killing of civilians in the last few days, with the latest on Thursday, when principal Supinder Kaur and teacher Deepak Chand were shot dead at point blank range inside a government school in Srinagar. (editor@dailyworld.in)