Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, July 25: A meeting of DPs of 1947 from PoJK was held under the banner of Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC) at Dak Bungalow Sunderbani district Rajouri wherein over 60 prominent representatives of DPs hailing from Tehsil Nowshera, Kalakote, Beri Pattan and Sunderbani participated and demanded reservation of 8 Assembly seats.
The meeting was jointly presided by Master Roshan Lal and Gurdev Singh, president JKSAC.
Appreciating the Central Govt move to amend section 14 of the Re-organization Act 2019 to provide two assembly seats to Kashmiri migrants, the participants strongly expressed their serious concern and resentment for reserving only one assembly seat for them instead of their constitutional share of eight seats. They termed it as a gross injustice with the DPs.
The participants appealed to Dr Jatinder Singh, MOS in PMO, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Jugal Kishore MP and other senior leaders of Pradesh BJP to apprise the Central Govt in this regard and forcefully impress upon the PM Modi and Home Minister Shah to take into consideration the legitimate long pending demands of lakhs of DPs to defreeze 8 seats which are proportional to their population across Jammu region in one go before presenting the Bill in Parliament.
They said reservation of merely one seat would be considered as a cruel joke with DPs of POJK.
Speaking on the occasion Gurdev Singh apprised the participants that DPs are fighting for their legitimate constitutional rights of representation since long but unfortunately being politically orphan, having no support, DPs’ voice remained unheard.
He said that this issue had been raised from time to time with all the govts and also taken up with Delimitation Commission, but the Commission refused to make the recommendation on the ground that they have been mandated only to re-demarcate the assembly constituencies.
He said Constituent Assembly was convened in 1951 and delineated 100 seats for J&K assembly and election was held for 75 seats only and DPs share of seats numbering 25 were reserved and kept vacant. He said that the strength of assembly seats remained 100 only when an Act was passed in 1988 and seats were increased by 111 in 1995 after an amendment made by the erstwhile govt of J&K state.
He appealed the Govt to accommodate the aspirations of DPs by reserving their full share of seats before presenting the bill in Parliament.
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