Jammu will not be allowed to suffer from injustice: Jitendra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 24

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh today made it clear that Jammu would not be allowed to suffer from injustice on any account.

He said the BJP was an equal partner in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led coalition government in the state nd there should be no misgivings about it.

The minister said the BJP ministers in the state government enjoyed equal authority and say in every decision and, therefore, nobody should get away with the impression that the BJP was there in the coalition only to stay in power.

Jitendra said this while addressing a function organised by a social organisation here.

The Union Minister said: “The BJP leadership would not have a Jammu-centric approach like some political parties, which followed a Kashmir-centric approach, but that does not mean that Jammu would be allowed to suffer from injustice on any account.”

“Equitable development of all three regions is a part of the common minimum programme of the coalition government and the BJP will ensure that Jammu also receives its due share in financial allocations and development projects. Whether it is AIIMS or IIT or the lake project, the BJP leadership is committed to fulfilling the promises made to the Jammu region,” he said.

His statement has come in the backdrop of a Jammu shutdown call given by the Coordination Committee — an amalgam of over 70 organisations — demanding AIIMS for Jammu and early completion of the artificial lake project on the Tawi.

Referring to the issue of the return of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, the minister said the Valley leaders, who had reservations or were resisting the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley were, in fact, suffering from ignorance because they were unable to realise that the exodus of the community from the Valley had left a huge cultural and civilisational vacuum in Kashmir.

He also reminded the separatist leaders that the Constitution which gave them the freedom and right to oppose the return of Pandits, gave Pandits the same right to forbid the separatist leaders from purchasing properties and settling their kith and kin in other parts of the country.

He cautioned against attempts by some elements to create a division among various groups or refugees and said the BJP was committed to equally addressing the grievances of all sections of refugees, West Pakistan refugees, refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and those uprooted as a result of militancy and the Indo-Pak wars.