Jammu group to agitate for a separate assembly

Jammu, March 20 : Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) Saturday said it will agitate for a separate assembly for the Jammu region as the present composition of the assembly does not allow the issues of the region to figure in the house.

JKNPP working president and legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia told reporters that the two main parties of the state - the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - were "Kashmir-centric" and engaged in their own politics of one-upmanship.

"As a result the issues concerning Jammu region were not finding adequate voice.....therefore, there is a need for two separate assemblies, one each for Jammu and the Kashmir Valley," Mankotia said.

"This government is working against the interests of Jammu region. It is pandering to whims and fancies of Kashmiri militants and stone-pelters, while the Jammu youth are not getting even small time opportunities to get into government services."

The JKNPP has three legislators in the current assembly.