Srinagar, Sep 21: PDP leader and MLA Pulwama Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra on Monday demanded that the Jammu and Kashmir government make public its report on the reservation policy and initiate a process to rationalise the system, saying the policy was affecting open-merit candidates and raising concerns over the representation of Kashmiris in government institutions.
“The government asked for six months. Nearly two years have passed, but the government has still not made its report on the reservation policy public,” Parra said during the Assembly session.
“We want the Chief Minister, the government and the Cabinet to open up and make the report public. Tell us what recommendations you have sent,” he said.
Parra called for reservation to be aligned with population proportions and said open-merit candidates should be given their due share.
“Our second demand is that reservation should be in proportion to population. Give reservation according to population. Give it on a pro-rata basis,” he said.
He also alleged that the policy was resulting in the exclusion of Kashmiri-speaking people from the system.
“There is particularly a concern among the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kashmir, that this entire policy is being designed to push Kashmiri-speaking people out of the system,” Parra said.
“Even though we constitute 70% of the population, in the name of merit and reservation, you are weeding Kashmiris out of the system,” he alleged.
Parra said the issue of Kashmiri representation had historically been linked to the region’s political movement, referring to the slogan “Kashmir for Kashmiris”.
“Our point is that the government should not take the reservation issue lightly,” he said. “The government should make that report public and initiate a process to rationalise reservation.”
He described the issue as “the most burning issue confronting the youth of Jammu and Kashmir today.”
