More than 12,000 “outsiders” are among the 12.5 lakh people who have received domicile certificates in Jammu and Kashmir under the new domicile laws for the fledgling Union Territory.

Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal has said that 99 per cent of these certificates have been issued to erstwhile holders of permanent resident certificates (PRCs).

Most people in Jammu and Kashmir view the remaining one per cent as “outsiders”, and believe that the Muslim-majority state’s special status was scrapped so that these “outsiders” can be settled there to change its demography.

Tensions had been flaring in the Valley and Jammu over reports that many “outsiders” had received domicile certificates. Kansal’s news conference was held to calm tempers through claims that most of these certificates had gone to erstwhile PRC holders.

Till Article 370 was abrogated on August 5 last year, the permanent residents enjoyed exclusive rights over land and government jobs in the erstwhile state. But new laws introduced in May this year have thrown open the possibility of domicile being granted to certain categories of the other residents.

The possession of a domicile certificate is now an eligibility condition for appointment to any Union Territory government post in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government has taken a slew of measures in recent months to speed up the process of granting domicile certificates to applicants, including a five-day deadline for their issuance.

“About 12.5 lakh domicile certificates have been issued so far. Over 99 per cent of those issued certificates include erstwhile PRCs, including Kashmiri Pandit migrants,” Kansal told the news conference on Tuesday.

He said the remaining one per cent included 11,398 refugees from the erstwhile West Pakistan, 415 members of the Valmiki community and 10 from the Gorkha community.

Among the 99 per cent are 12,340 registered migrants, who are apparently Kashmiri Pandits living in Jammu and outside.

The refugees from West Pakistan have been living in Jammu and Kashmir for decades but were not entitled to permanent resident certificates as they had come from territory outside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Unlike them, tens of thousands of refugees from PoK received permanent resident certificates and were fully absorbed into the system.

Some other “outsiders”, including senior IAS officer Navin Choudhary who is from Bihar, too have received domicile certificates but their number is not known.