PWCF meets Delimitation Panel demand reservation in upper house, bifurcation of Kokernag constituency

Srinagar: A five member team of Pahari Cultural and Welfare Forum district Anantnag, on Wednesday met the Delimitation Panel here and put forward their demands including bifurcation of Kokernag constituency.

The five member team of PCWF include Shareef bukhari, president district Anantnag, Imtiyaz ahmad khan, ex board member pahari advisory board, J&K, Sohail ahmad khan general secretary, Syed Akhter hussain, member district body and Syed Ashaq Hussain president tehsil pahalgam.

Members of the team told INS that they have put forward their four point demand list before the delimitation panel and since as per census of 2011 the total population of district Anantnag is 795805 out of which pahari speaking people consists 84742, thier demands must be taken seriously.

“We demand reservation of assembly segments for pahari speaking people as per their population,” they said, in recent elections for panchayat raj institutins it has been observed that some habitations, having more than 98 percent pahari population have been reserved for schedule tribe community due to unknown reasons for which they have protested before concerned authority.

They cited example of Gogaldarn, hapatnard, nagbal hapatnard, hardukichroo pahalgam, rakhibrah, sonach shangus in this regard.

They have also demanded reservation for Pahari Speaking People in Panchayat raj and political reservation in upper house.

“Being considerable majority of pahari speaking people in district anantnag our representation in upper house has always been neglected,” they said.

“We have demanded bifurcation of kokernag assembly segment. Being area wise as well as population wise biggest constituency we demand that kokernag assembly segment may be divided into two assembly segments so that proper development of these segments can be assured to the downtrodden public of concerned area,” they said.