J&K Delimitation Commission’s notification unacceptable to region’s people, Centre must intervene: Soz

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Prof. Saifuddin Soz has expressed disappointment with the notification issued by the J&K Delimitation Commission on Thursday. He said the region’s people may find it unacceptable even as he urged them to stay calm.

He also called upon the Centre to consult J&K’s political parties regarding the matter at the earliest.

“I have taken up the report of the J&K Delimitation Commission for my detailed study. Meanwhile, my cursory look at the report helped me to highlight the extremely negative side of this report, which can never be accepted by the people of J&K,” he said in a press statement.

“The Commission’s recommendation of adding six Assembly seats to Jammu region and only one seat to Kashmir, smacks of its pre-determined erroneous assessment of the situation. Many observers had already suspected that the Commission would play a nefarious game in tandem with the Union Govt,” he added.

“The Commission has totally failed to appreciate that a sizable number of people in Kashmir belong to Social Castes who carry the same stigma as STs and SCs. These castes are Sansi, Dubduba, Marasi, Hamami, Bazigar, Balti, Bedah, Bot, Boto, Borkpa, Drokpa, Dard, Shin, Changpa, Garza, Mon, Pugapa, Gaddi, and Jorbardar,” Soz said.

“Also, a glaring folly of the Commission is that it has recommended to merge Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency with Rajouri and Poonch Parliamentary Constituency. This is an impossible situation,” he added.

“The Commission has further committed the blunder of allotting 9 Assembly seats for SC/STs, of which 6 belong to Jammu region and only three to Kashmir division,” he said.

“My understanding is that it is still possible for the Union Govt. to consult the region’s mainstream political class in this connection at its earliest,” he said.

“My hope is that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would give their calm reflection to the report, appreciate its implications and express themselves strongly, but democratically and peacefully,” he added.