LS passes J&K Reservation Bill, Amit Shah says justice done to those deprived of rights for last 70 years

Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2023 will provide justice to those who were betrayed, insulted and ignored for 70 long years.

"The Bill that I have brought here pertains to bringing justice and providing rights to those against whom injustice was done, who were insulted, and those who were ignored," he said.

Talking about the merit of the Bill, two seats will be reserved for Kashmiri migrant community members, and one seat for people displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. For the first time, 9 seats will be reserved for SC/ST communities.

Shah said that earlier there were 37 seats in Jammu while now there are 43 and 47 in Kashmir. "In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), 24 seats have been reserved since PoK is ours," he said.

The Home Minister said: "Pakistan attacked Kashmir in 1947 in which around 31,789 families were displaced...10,065 families were displaced during the wars of 1965 and 1971."

"41,844 families were displaced during these three wars of 1947, 1965, and 1969. This bill is an attempt to give rights and representation to those people" he added.

Shah said that the Bill also provides rights and representation to Kashmiri Pandits who were displayed within their own country.

According to today's figures, 46,631 families and 1,57,967 people were displaced within their own country and this bill is to give them rights and representation, he said.

On the issue of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said, "Under the Narendra Modi government, the total incidents of terrorism registered have been around 2,000, it marks a 70% reduction in the incidents of terrorism."

"During the 1994-2004 period, a total of 40,164 incidents of terrorism were registered," he said in the house.

He also informed that during the 2004-2014 period, a total of 7,217 incidents of terrorism took place.

The Home Minister said that since the abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir saw an unprecedented transformation under the Modi-led government.

Shah added that the root cause of separatism, the root cause of terrorism was nothing but Article 370.

He said, "Those who say what happened after the removal of Article 370?... On August 5-6, 2019, their voices, which were not heard for years, were heard by PM Modi and today they are getting their rights."

Slamming Congress and first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, the Minister said Jammu and Kashmir suffered due to two blunders committed by the former, first announcing a ceasefire and then taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.

He said that had Jawaharlal Nehru taken the right steps, PoK would have been part of India now.

[With UNI inputs]