NEW DELHI: Home Minister Indrajit Gupta has said the government was considering the possibility of dividing Jammu and Kashmir State into three separate regions after the assembly elections, the BBC reported. Ladakh would get the status of a Union Territory under the scheme.
Gupta said since the Center was considering maximum autonomy for the state after the elections, it was in the fitness of things that aspirations of all the distinct regions in the state were respected.
Surveys indicated that Hindu dominated Jammu and Buddhist dominated Ladakh did not wish to be a part of the present state of Jammu and Kashmir. Religious separatism was strong only in the Kashmir Valley, and the other regions were keen to distance themselves from the separatist trend. Gupta said the government was already considering a Union Territory status for Ladakh, to enable its direct governance from New Delhi.
The future status of Jammu region had not yet been finalized, and the nature of autonomy for the Valley was also being discuss of the proposal would, however, depend entirely on the polls being conducted in a free and fair manner. Gupta’s remark on the possibility of splitting the state into three regions might be seen as the latest in a series of somewhat controversial statements on Jammu and Kashmir.
The Home Minister first created a furore in the Rajya Sabha recently when he said that the parliamentary elections have been fair. While speaking on Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament on another occasion, Gupta suggested that tourists should avoid visiting the militancy hit Valley. The minister came under flak from the Opposition which accused him of sending wrong signals abroad. The Home Minister could not be contacted Monday on his reported remark in Calcutta. He was out of station, on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 28, 1996
