Jammu: Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday as opposition BJP members raised the demand for a National Law University for Jammu, while National Conference and PDP drew attention to incidents of alleged harassment of Kashmiris outside the Union Territory.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather continued with the Question Hour despite the uproar and dismissed the adjournment motion moved by PDP MLA Wahid Ur Rehman Para to discuss the incidents of “hate crime” against Kashmiris elsewhere in the country.
As the assembly proceedings started, BJP MLA Surjit Singh Slathia raised the issue of Jammu University students who are on the roads in support of the demand for a law university.
“We are not against granting National Law University (NLU) for Kashmir but also want one such University for Jammu to fulfil the demand of the students of the region,” he said.
While Slathia was speaking, other BJP MLAs also stood up and displayed placards in support of the demand and also raised slogans like “NLU for Jammu”.
Congress legislator Nizam-ud-Din Bhat objected to the display of placards and said the recent meeting of the business advisory committee decided to maintain the decorum of the House while raising any issue.
“The action of displaying placards by BJP legislators is akin to encroachment and intrusion which is not acceptable. The government granted permission for NLU in Kashmir following due process,” he said.
Amid the ruckus, National Conference legislator Mubarak Gul alleged that Kashmiri students and traders are facing harassment and assault in different parts of the country which is not acceptable.
Para informed the speaker that he had moved an adjournment motion to discuss growing incidents of “hate crime” against Kashmiri students and others.
National Conference MLA Saifullah Mir alleged that dozens of Kashmiris living outside the Union Territory are not allowed to move out of their accommodations and are facing assault which needs government intervention.
The speaker intervened time and again and requested the members to maintain decorum of the house.
“There is no question of adjournment motion because the issues raised can be taken up through other means in an appropriate manner without disrupting the Question Hour, which can be used to make the government accountable,” he said.
He said the J-K government has already taken up the issue of harassment of Kashmiris with various state governments and is thankful to the Uttarakhand chief minister for taking immediate action recently in one such case.
