Chuni demands nomination of atleast 8 Assembly seats, Pahari status to all DPs

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Lashing out at the BJP Government in Centre for step motherly treatment with Pak Occupied Jammu Kashmir Displaced Persons over the nomination in Assembly as well as pick and choose in according Pahari Status, Chairman of SOS International-an organization of the PoJK Displaced community, Rajiv Chuni today pooh-poohed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.
“Once again this Government has established that sky is the limit for the valley migrants while the displaced people from PoJK are the children of a lesser God,” he said while talking to media persons in the presence of Prof. N. N. Sharma, V. K. Datta, Amarjeet Singh, Ved Raj Bali, Bhai Ram Singh, Jorawar Singh, Daleep Chib, Jagjit Singh and Satinder Dev Gupta at the office of S. O. S. International in Bakshi Nagar Jammu.
While elaborating, he said that those who migrated from within the country and not going back to their homes despite return of normalcy, have been considered for nomination of two Legislative Assembly seats while on the other hand, the PoJK Displaced community, whose number is much more higher and who are unable to go to their native land which is still under illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947, have been given only one seat.
Moreover, he added, the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 183rd Report submitted on 22-December-2014 in both houses of Parliament has already recommended defreezing of at least eight Assembly seats for the displaced people, out of 24 reserved Assembly seats for the occupied Jammu Kashmir.
Chuni further said that even the Delimitation Commission has recommended for adequate representation to the displaced persons from PoJK, which is understood to be at least eight Assembly seats for the community by way of nomination.
The SOS International chairman also drew attention towards another discriminatory move of the Government to deprive a large chunk of PoJK Displaced Persons from their natural right of being a member of Pahari community/clan. “Lakhs of PoJK Displace families temporarily settled in Jammu and other areas are being denied Pahari certificate notwithstanding the fact that entire population of the displaced community belongs to the Pahari tribe, who are native of districts of Poonch, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad areas, which are now under illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947,” he said.
As per the existing government provisions, to claim the benefit of Pahari category status, it is mandatory for the beneficiary to be a member of Pahari clan, tribe and ethnicity. But the government is openly violating the provisions of their own ‘Pahadi Act’ in lieu of vote bank. All the displaced people of Poonch, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad districts belong to Pahari clan, tribes and ethnicities, irrespective of where they are living in displacement today.
He explained and added that the government is giving Pahari certificates only to those people who are living in Rajouri and Poonch districts. This stand of the government is completely opposite to its own Pahadi Act. To consider all the people living in Rajouri and Poonch districts as Pahari is a big conspiracy which is being done only with a view to increase the vote bank. This is a sinister game being played by the government through which some fake people who are neither the ancestral citizens of Rajouri or Poonch district nor belong to hill tribes.
Alleging that, even today there are many people living in Rajouri and Poonch districts whose forefathers came in connection with job or business, how did all those people become Pahari?
This is a big scam which should be investigated by a retired judge of High Court or Supreme Court, he demanded. Pointing out that clan or tribe of a person remains unchanged wherever he settles or whatever language he speaks, Chuni said that there is no logic in according the ST status to only those residing in Rajouri-Poonch or some belts in Kashmir Valley but denying the same to those settled in Jammu and others parts. “If a Gujjar-Bakerwal remains ST irrespective of the location and area of his residence, how can a Pahari become non-Pahari if he has settled in Jammu or someplace other than the specified areas?” he said and demanded immediate rectification in the norms thus making all PoJK DPs eligible for the Pahari status.
He made a fervent appeal to all the leaders of BJP belonging to the displaced PoJK community to resign from their respective positions on moral grounds.