Centre isolating J-K in haste over several issues, says PAGD

The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Tuesday said that the Delimitation Commission's draft of the Centre, in its attempt to mainstream Jammu and Kashmir, is "isolating" it in a "haste over several issues."

Addressing the media after the PAGD meeting on Delimitation Commission's draft, MY Tarigami said, "We have reiterated that delimitation should take place as per the nationwide census. BJP government says that they want to mainstream J-K but they're isolating it in haste over several issues. It will affect the sentiments of people."

Pressing the Gupkar Alliance's demand for a "logical" increase of seats, if any, Tarigami said, "We want that even if the number of seats has to be increased, there should be some logic. Dr sahab (Farooq Abdullah) and Hasnain Masoodi went there (Delimitation Commission meet) as MPs. We said that it's not as per people's desire but a step to create divides between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh."

Before the meeting commenced, Tarigami had called the draft by the Delimitation Commission "divisive and unacceptable" and said, "I think it'll further divide Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of communities and regions."

The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) held a meeting at the residence of the chairman Farooq Abdullah in Jammu today.

Just two days before the meeting, Sajad Lone-led Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC) pulled out of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).

Notably, leaders from constituent parties had for the first time attended the meeting of PAGD since its formation two years back.

The Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, held its second meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

"For the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, a total of nine seats are proposed to be allocated for Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population and seven seats are proposed for Scheduled Castes," the Commission said in a press release.

It explained the criteria used for forming the draft recommendations of allocating additional assembly seats to Jammu and Kashmir and said that it categorised all 20 districts into three broad categories on the basis of the average population.

"The Commission explained that taking all these into account, it has categorised all 20 districts in three broad categories A, B and C giving a margin of 10 per cent of average population per Assembly Constituency (AC) while proposing an allocation of the constituencies to the districts," the press release said.

The release said that the Commission has also, for some districts, proposed carving out of an additional constituency to balance the representation for geographical areas having inadequate communication and lack of public conveniences due to their inhospitable conditions on the international border.

The commission has recommended increasing the assembly seats in the Jammu region by six to 43 and in Kashmir region from 46 to 47.

While BJP said the proposals have been made after due diligence, National Conference termed them "unacceptable".

The Commission shared Paper I describing the proposed seat allocation at the level of districts with all the members. They have been requested their views or suggestions by December 31, 2021.

( With inputs from ANI )