Pok is ours and no one can snatch it, says Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday underscored India's claim over Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (Pok) and said 24 seats were reserved in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly for representatives from the region as he blamed India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the delay in the integration of the erstwhile state with the rest of the country.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Shah's comments came during his reply to the debate on two bills related to Jammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha. The Jammu and Kashmir reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 were later passed by the Upper House with a voice vote. "Pok is ours and no one can snatch it from us....." he said, adding that full statehood will be given to J&K at an appropriate time.

The Opposition walked out of the proceedings before the amendments to the bills were put to vote.

The J&K reservation bill seeks to provide reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other socially and educationally backward classes.

The amendments seek to reword Section 2 of the Reservation Act to change the nomenclature of "weak and under privileged classes (social castes)" to "other backward classes and make consequential amendments.

The J&K reorganisation bill provides for the reorganisation of the erstwhile state of J&K into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with an elected legislature) and Ladakh (without an elected legislature). It seeks to increase the number of seats to 90 from 83 in J&K assembly - a number fixed by the delimitation commission earlier this year. It also reserves seven seats for scheduled castes, nine for scheduled tribes, two for Kashmiri migrants and one for displaced people from POK. In addition, 24 seats are reserved for Pok.