J&K Assembly Speaker adjourns House for 15 mins after uproar over LoPs ‘Pir Panjal’ remarks

Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Wednesday adjourned the House for 15 minutes after uproar over Leader of Opposition (LoP) remarks on ‘Pir Panjal’.

LoP Sunil Sharma, on Tuesday, speaking to a private channel, said that the ‘Pir Panjal’ term does not exist.

Congress MLA Iftikhar Ahmad, during the Zero Hour, raised the issue seeking an apology from the LoP, asserting that his remark on ‘Pir Panjal’ was disrespectful to the people of the region.

Notably, the Rajouri-Poonch districts are termed as the ‘Pir Panjal’ region.

BJP MLA Sunil Bhardwaj said, “We believe in ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat’ but by raising such issues, they are diverting the attention so that people’s concerns cannot be raised in the House.”

Joined by the National Conference (NC) legislators, the Congress MLA, amidst slogans, ” ‘Pir Panjal’ zindabad”, assembled near the well and demanded an apology from the LoP.

Meanwhile, opposition BJP MLAs stood on their seats and objected to the protesting MLAs triggering uproar.

The opposition MLAs said that “there is no existence of the ‘Pir Panjal’ region and Jammu and Kashmir is one identity.”

“We will not allow the Dixon plan to succeed, and this theory will never be accepted,” the BJP MLAs said.

However, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Choudhary, in a response while shouting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, said, “This is an insult to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who have sacrificed for the integrity and unity of the country. The BJP MLAs must apologise to the people of this region. They (BJP) are dividing Jammu and Kashmir on communal and regional lines.’

Jammu and Kashmir cabinet minister, Satish Sharma, supporting the agitating NC-Congress legislators, said, “Nationalist people live in Poonch-Rajouri, they have sacrificed their lives. We understand them. They (BJP) must apologise in the House. They (BJP) have already degraded the status of J&K. We will not tolerate this.”

Amidst ruckus in the House, Speaker A R Rather adjourned the House for 15 minutes.