The Centre's decision to reserve two seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for nominated representatives of displaced Kashmiri Pandits has left sections of the community fuming at what they see as an admission that the government cannot bring them back to their homeland.

The Lok Sabha this week passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to nominate to the Assembly two members from the migrant Kashmiri Pandit community and one representing displaced Hindus from PoK. These three seats will be added to the 90 seats for which elections will be held.

Migrant Kashmiri Pandits living anywhere in India are eligible to be nominated.

Valley-based political parties have opposed the decision, stressing that it gives an unelected lieutenant governor, and not an elected government, the power to nominate these members.

Pandit leader Satish Mahaldar, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Peace Forum, accused the BJP of "not keeping its promises to the Hindu majority nation as well as the Pandit community" despite being in power for nearly a decade.

"In its 2014 election manifesto, the BJP called for the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits… to the land of their ancestors with full dignity, security, and assured livelihood," Mahaldar said in a statement.

"It appears the govt of India - the BJP has given up/ bombed its all commitments by proposing such a defective demonstration in the shadow (guise) of political strengthening to the Kashmir Pandits."

Mahaldar told The Telegraph that reserving seats for the displaced Pandits amounts to making their "displacement" permanent.

"Does it mean they will never come back, or, if they do, they will lose their political representation? The bill clearly shows the Centre is not interested in bringing the community back," he said.

The BJP has always claimed that the return of the Pandits to Kashmir is high on its agenda. But the party has so far failed to convince the community to do so. Pandits claim the situation is not conducive to their return.

Pandit employees posted in Kashmir under the government’s return and rehabilitation policy had, after a spate of targeted killings, held massive demonstrations last year demanding relocation to Jammu. The government rebuffed their demand and stopped the salaries of those who had fled to Jammu, forcing them to return to the Valley.

Mahaldar was also unhappy at the lieutenant governor being given the power to nominate the members, saying this meant the Pandits cannot elect their representatives. He said the government should have instead reserved three elected seats for Pandits in Kashmir.

The Kashmir Pandit Sangarsh Samiti, a group representing non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits, too criticised the bill because it excludes those Pandits who have not migrated.

"Resident KPs (Kashmiri Pandits) are non-entity for BJP. They have (are) keeping us with Muslim majority in Kashmir. No value for Resident Kashmiri pandits. Rest r enjoying," the group posted on X.

People's Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhtar criticised what he called a "deeply flawed reservation", saying it takes the migrants farther away from their roots.

"Any reintegration looks like a distant dream with such legislation negating Kashmir's history of electing minority leaders," he posted on X.

Some Pandits, however, welcomed the move. Pandit leader Tej Krishan Bhat lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking an initiative that "no other party took in the past".

Hindu refugees from PoK have, however, expressed anguish at only one seat being reserved for "a 12-lakh-strong population of PoK refugees living in J&K".

"It's an insult to us," their leader Rajiv Chunni said.