Srinagar, Dec 6: The Jammu & Kashmir administration is setting up a commission to start the process of delimitation in the newly-created Union Territory by December-end or early next month. BJP J&K General Secretary Ashok Kaul in an interview with IANS said the Assembly polls will be held in the Union Territory after delimitation. “But the process will take some time,” he said.
He said the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 will also be implemented in Jammu & Kashmir after it is passed in Parliament. He said the law will apply to Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living in Jammu & Kashmir illegally, but will not impact the West Pakistan refugees and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) refugees living in Jammu. He said the Rohingyas are not living only in the Jammu region but also in Kashmir. “The beggars sighted at the bus stands in Kashmir are the same people,” he said.
There are close to 50,000 families of West Pakistan refugees living in Jammu since Partition. Before the abrogation of Article 370 they could only take part in parliamentary elections and not in state Assembly polls as they were not considered permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir.
Citizenship to the West Pakistan refugees was a poll issue of the BJP and the party had promised to grant them citizenship rights when voted to power. By removing Article 370 the BJP has delivered on the poll promise to the West Pakistan refugees and fulfilled their long pending demand.
