Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, July 24: Apni Party provincial president, Jammu, and former Minister, Manjit Singh today demanded reservation of two Legislative Assembly seats for Sikh community one in Jammu region and another in Kashmir Valley.
“The Sikh community has no political representation in both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore, it becomes imperative to give them political representation by reserving two seats of Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir i.e., each one in Jammu and another in Kashmir,” said the former Minister, Manjit Singh.
He gave this statement in response to the allocation of one each seat for Legislative Assembly for Kashmiri Pandits, and PoJKs while expressing concern over the negligence of the Sikh community and Jatts community in J&K.
He said that “The Sikhs in J&K have remained politically, socially and educationally backward although they have strong strength in Defence Forces. However, generally the community feels that they have no political representation and this concern of the Sikhs needs to be addressed.”
He further stated that the Sikhs have played an important role in defending the country, administration, police, agriculture and other related fields, yet they were not given their due share in politics.
“The time has come, when the Government of India should consider the same with a motive to provide a political platform to the Sikh community by reserving two Assembly seats for Sikhs in J&K’s both regions,” he added.
Referring to the demand of Jatt community, he said that the Jatts in J&K have remained unrepresented in the Legislative Assembly and therefore, they must be given an opportunity by allocating two seats for them from Jammu region.
“The Jatts are backward in social, political, educational, or employment sectors. It becomes important for the Government to give them political reservation in two Legislative Assembly seats to ensure the upliftment of the Jatts in J&K,” he said.
Moreover, he said that the allocation (reservation) of one seat each for Kashmiri Pandits and PoJK in J&K is a welcome step.
However, the seats for the PoJK should be increased from one to eight Legislative Assembly seats as they have a clear majority of population scattered from Kathua to Poonch district, he added.
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