Settlement of Pakistani refugees in Jammu and Kashmir is a conspiracy: National Conference

The National Conference on Saturday said the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee for the permanent settlement of west Pakistan refugees in Jammu and Kashmir is a "conspiracy" to change the demography of the state and its special status.

"The Joint Parliamentary Committee's recommendations for the permanent settlement of west Pakistan refugees in the state is a wicked conspiracy to change the demography of the state and to alter the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir," NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said. He was addressing meetings of district committees from Baramulla and Kupwara.

Sagar described the recommendations of the JPC as "anti-state", saying anti-Jammu and Kashmir elements have been implying different tactics to change the demography of the state.

"Different parliamentary committees have recommended many different things for the state like the return of the power projects to J&K, restoration of autonomy, and revoking the black laws like AFSPA from the state, but all the governments at the Centre binned these recommendations," Sagar said.

"Now that another JPC has made recommendations for settling Pakistani refugees, and giving them the citizenship and voting rights, central government seems like in a hurry to make this happen as soon as possible. We can smell a rat in these recommendations," he added. He said conspiracies like these were even hatched in 2008, when there were attempts to transfer land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which was a dangerous attempt to fiddle with special status of Jammu and Kashmir.