Delimitation panel report repeat of past discrimination against Kashmir: People's Conference

Srinagar, May 5 (IANS) The People's Conference (PC) led by Sajad Lone said in a statement on Thursday that the J&K Delimitation Commission report is a repeat of the past trend of discriminating against Kashmir.

"Over the last six decades, Kashmir's share of Assembly seats in the J&K Assembly increased from 43 to 47 while Jammu's share rose from 30 to 43. Who is responsible for the systematic disempowerment of Kashmiris from 1947? Those who aided and abetted in the journey from Jammu's 30 to 37 are the ones who aided and abetted from 37 to 43," the statement said.

"Hope Kashmiris will now remember the parties which associated themselves with the delimitation process, which was essentially a tool for disempowerment. How could a party which associated itself with the delimitation process be so audacious? They actually had the nerve of submitting one memorandum in Kashmir and a separate memorandum in Jammu. Ironically, the memorandums were contradictory. The Jammu one seemed to have been copy pasted from the Hindutva brigade," the statement added.

It added that the party will file an RTI and seek the video recordings of the meetings to expose how those who started beating their chests outside the meeting halls were bending their back to appease and please the members of the Delimitation Commission.

"Financial scams indulged in during the last few decades cannot be squared off by covertly facilitating disempowerment of the Kashmiris. How stupid we were. We couldn't see through the game plan. The raids. The EDs. It was all a game. A trade off. They had again bartered away the Kashmiris. The barterers are the same. When will this change? We are not saying that had they not participated there would have been no delimitation and that the process would have been stalled. But the process would not enjoy the sanctity it enjoys now," the statement concluded.

The Delimitation Commission for J&K on Thursday finalised the delimitation order and submitted it to the Election Commission of India wherein it has recommended 43 Assembly seats for Jammu division and 47 seats for the Kashmir region.

For the first time, nine Assembly constituencies have been reserved for STs, out of which, six are in Jammu region and three in Kashmir. The constitution of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state had no provision for reservation of seats for STs in the Legislative Assembly.