Jammu, Apr 6: Under pressure, the Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday attempted to play down the controversy over the issuance Dogra Certificate to the people of Jammu province, saying it was ready to issue similar certificates to other communities in the state. It said the decision on issuance of Dogra Certificate won’t be revoked at any cost.
Talking to a local news gathering agency KNS, Revenue Minister Raman Balla, flanked by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, said: “If Kashmiris want Kashmiri certificate, people of Rajouri and Poonch demand Rajput certificate and Ladakhis demand Ladakhi certificate, we would provide them the same. Let them come forward and we will consider their case also.”
Bhalla said that Dogra Certificate has been issued to make the entry of Dogras easy in central forces. “It hasn’t been issued to Hindus only, but to Muslims, Sikhs and people of other religions also.”
Earlier Bhalla had said it was “meant to facilitate entry of Dogras into Army.”
The Revenue Minister rejected senior Peoples Democratic Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s claim that issuance of Dogra Certificate was violation of Indian Constitution. “We don’t run the government on Baig’s advice. It is not violation of the Constitution. Government will not revoke the decision at any cost.”
The Revenue Minister asked the MLAs who have raised the issue in the past few days that ‘why they didn’t raise it in the Assembly.’
“They are playing politics over it. Why they remained silent in Assembly,” he asked.
On the recent reports of issuance of state subject certificates to non-state subjects, Bhalla denied the allegations. “We examined thousands of applications for the state subject and only 300 were found genuine and they were provided the certificate. Politics is being run on such issues by some vested interests,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST