'PoK Part of India, 24 Seats Reserved for Region in J&K Assembly as It's Our Own': Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of India and, hence, 24 seats have been kept reserved for the region in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. He said after the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir, there will be 43 assembly seats in Jammu region — up from 37 — and 47 in Kashmir Valley, up from 46. “As many as 24 seats have been kept for PoK because the region is our own,” he added.

While replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, both of which were passed by the lower house of Parliament, Shah further said Kashmir had to suffer due to two major “Nehruvian blunders” — declaring a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir and taking the issue to the United Nations.

“I stand in the House and say responsibly that Kashmir suffered for several years because of the two blunders during the tenure of PM Jawaharlal Nehru. The biggest mistake was that when our forces were winning, ceasefire was announced and PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) came into existence. Had the ceasefire been delayed by three days, PoK would have been a part of India. Second was to take our issue to the UN,” he said.

The opposition went up in arms on Shah’s statement in Parliament and the Congress staged a walkout. The union home minister also lashed out at the Congress for talking about backward classes, saying if any party has opposed the community and come in the way of their growth, it is the Congress. He said Narendra Modi was born into a poor family and became the prime minister, and he knows the pain of the backward classes and the poor.

Calling the new legislation the “Naya Kashmir” bills, the union home minister said they will give justice to those deprived of their rights for the last 70 years and asserted that reservation to the displaced people will give them a voice in the legislature.

He said one of the two seeks to give representation to those who had to leave Kashmir due to terrorism. “One of two bills on Jammu and Kashmir seeks to nominate two Kashmiri migrant community members, including a woman, to the assembly,” he said.

About the predicament of Kashmiri Pandits, the union home minister said had terrorism been tackled at the beginning without considering vote-bank politics, Kashmiri Pandits would never have had to leave the Valley. “There was an era of terrorism (in Jammu and Kashmir) after the 1980s and it was a horrifying scene. Those who lived on the land considering it their country, were thrown out and no one cared about them, neither did they try to stop it. In fact, they were responsible to stop it, enjoying vacations in England,” he said.

He added: “When they (Kashmiri Pandits) were displaced, they were forced lived as refugees in their own country. Around 46,631 families were displaced in their own country. This Bill is to get them rights, it is to give them representation.”

(With PTI inputs)