The displaced persons (DPs) of 1947 from POK held meetings at village Khour, Chak Salaria and Chak Babral in district Samba

Jammu, 23 rd June 2022 The displaced persons (DPs) of 1947 from POK held meetings at village Khour, Chak Salaria and Chak Babral in district Samba under the banner of Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC) wherein it was strongly demanded that DP’s share of the 8/9 assembly seats are released immediately as they are settled in the Jammu region for the last more than seven decades, as J&K is fully integrated with the Union of India and now the govt. has no justification to captivate their constitutional rights of representation.

The participants in the meeting also demanded implementation of JPC report No. 183, the only roadmap to resolve the DP’s settlement issues pending redressal past seven years and the registration of their claim and accordingly payment of final compensation could be made after the liberation of POK as asserted by GOI many times.


Speaking in the meeting Gurdev Singh along with Ch. Darshan Singh (Chairman BDC),
Bhagwan Singh, Capt. Puran Singh Chib, Ch. Joginder Lal and Sarpanch Tejinder Singh said it is not understood on what ground the Delimitation Commission has recommended to the central govt. for consideration of only 2/3 seats for DPs of 1947 instead of 8/9 seats which are at present exactly proportional to their population settled in the Jammu region.

He apprised the participants that a constitutional assembly was convened in 1951 and it delineated 100 seats for J&K. The election was held for 75 seats only and 25 seats of the residents of Pak-occupied areas of J&K were reserved and kept vacant. He said that the strength of assembly seats remained at 100 only when an act was passed in 1988 and seats of the J&K assembly were increased by 111 in 1995 after amending by the then govt. in the constitution of the erstwhile J&K state.

He said that JKSAC forcefully raised their voice and started Jail baro Adolan in 1988 and similarly resented strongly in 1995 but the state govt. having the support of the central govt. did not budge even an inch from their stand and ultimately DP’s voice was crushed having no support from the Jammu-based political parties.

As per section 48 of the erstwhile J&K state, the election was held for 87 seats only including 4 seats of Ladakh. 24 seats were reserved again and kept vacant for showcasing only to strengthen the Indian constitutional claim over POK. He further apprised the participants that JKSAC made a protracted struggle all along these years in this regard, but the govt. always escaped under the plea that defreezing of the DPs seats needs an amendment in the constitution and regretted that such amendments were never made as it did suit the valley-centric govts. in J&K who always wanted to keep intact their hegemony over the Jammu region.

He further said that after the historical abrogation of article 370 and 35-A by the central govt. the DPS was very hopeful that some provision would be made in the reorganization Act to accommodate DPs aspirations but unfortunately, nothing happened as expected and the BJP-led central govt. did not take care of section-14(4) in respect of DPs, thus vindicating the stand taken by earlier state and central govt. They have been deprived again of their legitimate right of representation.

He said that the delimitation commission lacks justification in recommending consideration of only two seats for DPs out of their total share of 8/9 seats. All the speakers in the meeting made a humble appeal to Prime Minister Mr. Modi and Home Minster Sh. Amit Shah to amend the re-organization act in the ensuing parliamentary session to accommodate DPs in the legislative structure of J&K and further added that this is the
appropriate occasion to undo the injustice done to DPs by the previous govt. who captivated their constitutional representation since 1951 merely for political considerations.

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