Jammu, July 25: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Working President Raman Bhalla on Tuesday accused the Centre of snatching the democratic rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir and said the “anti-people” decisions are aimed at diverting attention from “real” issues.
Bhalla in a statement expressed serious concern over the “difficulties” confronting the people in the absence of a democratic system in J&K. He accused the Centre of “failing” the people on all counts.
“J&K was divided into two Union Territories against the wishes of the people and they were now being denied their democratic rights by the BJP aiming to hide its wrong policies and utter failure,” he said, adding, “Congress shall continue to fight for the democratic rights of the people and ensure justice.”
The Congress leader hailed reserving two seats for the Kashmiri Migrant community in the assembly and backed the demand for more reserved J&K Assembly seats for Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) refugees.
Referring to the demand for de-freezing of one-third of assembly seats out of 24 seats for PoJK, Bhalla demanded appropriate amendments in law to allocate seats proportional to the displaced population, who survived to cross over to this side and let them elect their real representatives. “Allocating two/three seats by way of nomination, as being suggested, would result in great injustice to the large displaced community from Mirpur, Poonch and Muzzfrabad,” he added.
The JKPCC leader further said, “Sikhs form a patriotic and nationalistic community having a history of sacrifices for humanity and in safeguarding the sovereignty, integrity and unity of India. Sikhs are today feeling helpless in the absence of any political representation for them in J&K.”
Quoting the 2011 census he said Sikhs constitute almost 2 percent of the total population of J&K which at present might be somewhere between 2.5 to 3 lakh. Citing recent reports of the Delimitation Commission, Bhalla said Congress wants political reservation for the minority Sikh community in J&K. He also supported Pahari-speaking people’s demand of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and political reservation living in different parts of Jammu District.
He also questioned the denial of Pahari status and benefits of reservation to a section of displaced Pahari community from POJK, settled in few pockets of Jammu province, other than in Poonch-Rajouri districts and termed it a “great injustice” with them. He sought a one-third share for them in the 24 assembly seats reserved for POJK.
Bhalla added, “Congress is a responsible and constructive opposition and it shall continue to oppose the Modi government for rising unemployment, economic crisis, lack of development and also expose its (BJP) false promises and betrayals.”
