IS leader held for planning Kabul gurdwara attack
J&K DOMICILE POLICY Resentment among Kashmiris, resistance from JKAP and local BJP unit prompted Centre to amend the policy
NEWDELHI: In a special operation by Afghan security forces on Saturday, the so-called emir of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) Mawlawi Abdullah aka Aslam Farooqui was arrested on charges of orchestrating the Kabul gurdwara attack.
NEW DELHI: Resentment among young Kashmiris, concerns raised by the Jammu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and resistance by the newlyformed Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) prompted the Centre to amend the domicile policy of the newly formed Union territory within days of its announcement, people familiar with the development said.
The Centre tweaked the policy on Friday to reserve all government jobs for people domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir. An earlier version of the policy notified on Tuesday had only reserved subordinate jobs for J&K residents, throwing open all others to any person who had resided in the erstwhile state for 15 years or studied there for seven years and appeared for Class 10/12 examinations, resetting the domicile policy.
JKAP chief Altaf Bukhari protested against the first version of the policy to Union home minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. At the time of the formation last month of his party, seen to have the tacit support of the Centre, Bukhari had vowed to work towards restoring J&K’s statehood and ensuring the domicile rights of people in jobs and education. Soon after his announcement last month, he led a 24-member JKAP delegation to New Delhi to separately meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister.
The top central leadership assured the delegation that the government would take steps to ensure the economic development of the Union territory, tried to allay its concerns over future demographic change and said it would address the grant of state domicile, a JKAP leader said on condition of anonymity.
A new domicile policy had been necessitated by the nullification on August 5, 2019 of Article 370. The Centre also did away with Article 35A that allowed the J&K assembly to decide who are the permanent residents of the erstwhile state for whom local government jobs and property ownership were reserved.
The notification on Tuesday resetting the domicile policy drew immediate condemnation by Kashmiri political parties. “Insulted is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised,” National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
Bukhari, who is in Delhi, met Shah and Doval on Friday and conveyed to them his party’s reservations over the new law and demanded that all jobs in J&K be reserved for residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
The policy, he told them, would be a big blow to his efforts to make Kashmiris look beyond the nullification of Article 370, according to the people familiar with the developments.