Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday tabled a Bill in the Lok Sabha to nominate two members from the “Kashmiri Migrants” community, who “migrated” when militancy was at its peak in the 1989-90, as members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. One of the members will be a woman.
It also proposes to nominate one member from “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”, displaced in the 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The Bill aims “to preserve their political rights” and “overall social and economic development.”
The special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was struck down by Parliament in August 2019 and the former State was bifurcated into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the latter without an Assembly. Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since 2018 and Assembly elections are yet to take place.
