SRINAGAR: The three outgoing Rajya Sabha members of Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday spoke on varied issues pertaining to the Union Territory ranging from restoration of statehood to the recently conducted District Development Council elections, the Tribune reported.
Here are the excerpts from the report:
Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP), the outgoing Rajya Sabha member from J&K, on Tuesday, said he would hope that a Bill of restoration of statehood would be brought to Parliament soon to make J&K a state once again.
Laway, who was being given farewell in the Rajya Sabha, said when he became a member of the House, J&K and Ladakh were one state. Now, the area has been split into two different union territories.
“The Prime Minister and Home Minister have promised in this House that Jammu and Kashmir will become a state again. I am confident that God willing, a Bill to this effect will be brought to the House one of these days”, Laway said.
The PDP MP said Parliament had made J&K a state and gave it special status and when the state was bifurcated, he opposed the move vociferously in the House. A lot of MPs, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had backed him then.
Laway said when he would return to Kashmir, he would tell the people how much the rest of India cared for Kashmir and empathised with its people. “Parliament is our country’s fragrance and I am taking the fragrance with me to J&K”, he said.
Another outgoing PDP MP Mir Mohammed Fayaz, who too was given farewell on Tuesday, also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to make Jammu and Kashmir one state again and restore its special status.
Fayaz said he was happy to see that people came out to vote in the District Development Council (DDC) poll held in J&K recently. The “Ujjwala” scheme, under which LPG cylinder were being introduced to households not having the facility, was also turning out to be a big help to the poor women of J&K, the outgoing MP said.
Another outgoing MP, Shamsher Singh Manhas of the BJP, also spoke fondly about his experience in the Rajya Sabha and expressed his gratitude to his fellow members for their cooperation. With the exit of the three MPs and Congress Party’s Ghulam Nabi Azad, who too was given farewell by the members on Tuesday, J&K will no longer have any representation in Rajya as the state has ceased to exist.
