Reservation row splits House

Srinagar, Oct 30: The issue of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Reservation Policy drew angry jibes in the J&K Legislative Assembly on Thursday, with a member demanding rights as envisaged in the Constitution, while others demanded justice in proportion to the actual representation and population.

The House was divided in its support and saw charged arguments.

People’s Conference (PC) leader and MLA Handwara, Sajjad Lone, alleged that the government was stonewalling the questions and not providing the relevant information sought from it.

Lone said that he had sought information about the status of the Cabinet Sub-Committee report and data pertaining to reservations.

“We wanted to see if data supports the arguments pertaining to reservations,” he said.

Expressing his suspicions about the reservation rules in J&K, Lone said he had sought merit lists and selection lists from the government.

“Only the government has the data,” he said.

Lone said the differences and insights from these lists would clarify which community and region was at the receiving end.

The PC leader said he had submitted questions to the Department of Social Welfare earlier and lately, in this Assembly session, from the General Administrative Department.

He said his question was clubbed with the question of another legislator and marred the purpose to seek answers from the government.

Lone said that doctors and engineers from J&K were serving at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, other hospitals in J&K, and even abroad.

Addressing Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, he said, “Sir, you are the senior-most person here. You very well know that if there were reservations like this, would these people have been able to study at these medical colleges and make a name for themselves and for our place?”

Lone said that the reservation policy was curtailing the talent in J&K from flourishing and from going out to the world. His comment on “accomplished doctors” coming from non-reserved categories drew a strong rebuttal from National Conference (NC) MLA from Gurez, Nazir Ahmed Khan (Gurezi).

“I had asked a question about the education system in Gurez, and do you know what the answer is?” he said. “Not a single science teacher is available in the higher secondary schools of Gurez. Despite these hardships, despite these constraints, our people compete with you, work hard to get selected as doctors, as administrators, as professionals who work in all the hospitals that you mentioned and elsewhere.”

Gurezi cornered Lone with the remark that he had studied in London.

He said a student enrolled in a school in Dawar cannot be compared to have the same affluence.

Gurezi’s assertive remarks drew applause from many legislators, while many others raised voices to oppose his comments. The house was adjourned soon after.