Allow Armymen to settle in Jammu and Kashmir: BJP MP Tarun Vijay
“Those who shed blood for our motherland in the Valley should be respected and honoured,” Tarun Vijay said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tarun Vijay has sent a letter to the Defence Ministry, asking the government to allow Army personnel who have served in Jammu and Kashmir or the families of soldiers who died on duty to settle in the state.”Those who shed blood for our motherland in the Valley should be respected and honoured,” Vijay told India Today TV.
 The Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand said that settlement rights must be granted to the Army personnel who have served a minimum of three years in the restive Valley. He said he had raised the issue in Rajya Sabha on May 8 this year and the Centre has already sent a proposal in this regard to the state government.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has already forwarded the proposal to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, prevents any non-Kashmiri to settle in the state, which is now run by a BJP-PDP coalition government. The constitutional provision has been one of the major sticking points between the two allies, with the PDP saying it will not let the provision be diluted.
Removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir has been a longstanding plank of the Sangh Parivar. Vijay’s proposal is bound to face a stiff resistance from the people in Jammu and Kashmir and may become another strain in the BJP-PDP relations in the state.
