Hurriyat rejects controversial J-K Inter-District Recruitment Bill

Srinagar,Apr 10 (ANI): Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, leader of moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), has rejected the controversial Inter-District Recruitment Bill.

On Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly had passed the Bill that bans inter-district recruitment.

Though it says that people from a particular district can seek jobs only within that district, but Farooq opposed the amendment in the Bill.

A new amendment keeps eight percent jobs reserved for the Scheduled Caste community.

"It is the responsibility of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and mine; we cannot remain mum on steps which hurt the interests of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir state. You are seeing how the government tried to get a bill passed, in which one area is being benefited and the other is neglected," Farooq said.

He expressed apprehensions about people from the Jammu region applying in the Kashmir Valley, which has negligible scheduled castes population and is a Muslim-majority region.

"We want to make clear that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority province and any such step should not be picked up which compromises with the interests of Muslims," Farooq added.

Chaos prevailed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Friday even as the controversial Inter-District Recruitment Bill was adopted.

Various political parties expressed their unhappiness with the bill. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) observed a shutdown in the Jammu region.

However, the National Conference (NC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have favoured the ban on inter-District recruitment. (ANI)