Former minister wants separate Jammu

Jammu, Sep 4 (PTI) A former minister and independent MLAfrom Udhampur Pawan Gupta has demanded the creation of aseparate Jammu state so that the political and economicalaspirations of the people from the region are not held"hostage" by the Kashmir-based leaders. "Jammu people have their own political social andeconomic aspirations which cannot be met under the failed70-year old Kashmir-dominated dispensations," Pawan Guptasaid. "The people of Jammu reject the demands of Kashmirileaders ranging from autonomy to self-rule to freedom ormerger with Pakistan," he said in a statement issued heretoday. "Kashmir has seen radicals, who in the words of PDP MPMuzaffar Hussain Baig, are not fighting for autonomy or selfrule, but for a Muslim state," he added. He said the existing constitutional and administrativestructure in the state is unitary and Kashmir-centric. "It is a structure that the Kashmiri leadership exploitsto the hilt and on a daily basis to its own benefit and to thebenefit of the Kashmiri people." "It is aimed at depriving Jammu and Ladakh and theminorities of their legitimate due share in state’s politicaleconomic and social progress. This is slavery of the worstform so not acceptable to us," he said. PTI TSS AB SG SKSG