Mehbooba cautions against tinkering with Art 35A
NEW DELHI, July 28:
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today batted for revival of talks with Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir issue but said the neighbour’s positive contribution is very necessary to “open closed roads” in the State.
Speaking at a public event here, she also said that the recent NIA raids and arrest of separatist leaders in the Kashmir valley was a temporary measure and not a solution to address the real problem.
“The PDP-BJP alliance has been on the belief and hope that we will be able to revive the magic of (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji’s time… Vajpayee ji did it,” she said in her keynote address at the ‘Understanding Kashmir’ session hosted by social group BRIEF.
Citing the Lahore declaration in which Pakistan had assured that it will not allow its land to be used against anti-India activities, Mehbooba said, “We have to revive that… In spite of Kargil and attack on the Parliament House…
“We have had some setbacks but we need to revive it, if we want that the closed roads in Jammu and Kashmir open, then Pakistan’s positive contribution is very necessary,” she said.
She said the idea of ‘azadi’ in the minds of people of the state needs to be replaced with something else and drew attention to the 2005 working groups constituted to address the internal dimensions of the Kashmir issue.
“The working group reports (on Kashmir) have been thrown in the waste basket. We are not doing anything about that,” she said.
When asked about the recent crackdown of the National Investigation Agency against separatist leaders in the Kashmir valley, Mehbooba said such acts do not give a long-lasting solution.
“Whatever happened with the NIA is an administrative measure. Such measures can just contain a situation, they don’t address the real problem,” she said.
She said such crackdowns have not resolved the problem, adding “So we need to address the problem and real problem is still there.”
While Mehbooba lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she, at the same time, urged the Centre to do more to ease the situation in her state.
“I feel Modiji is the man of the moment and he has the potential to rise and become the man of history. His leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed… And take Kashmir out of this present mess,” she said.
She expressed her sadness and concern over the tinkering with the Article 35A, that accords special rights and privileges to the natives of Jammu & Kashmir, and that its Constitutional validity has been challenged in the Supreme Court by way of a PIL.
“Who is doing it? Why are they doing it?… The separatists’ agenda is different and it is totally secession. But you are weakening those powers which are Indian and trust India and participate in elections (by challenging the Article 35A),” she said and warned if there is an alteration in the special status of the State there could be a revolt.
“If any attempt is made… India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in the state,” she said.
“This is one of the problem,” she said stressing that both the articles 370 and 35A are very dear to the State and they help preserve her State’s unique identity.
The Chief Minister was critical of some television news channel anchors saying that they were trying to project Kashmir in a bad light.
“I am sorry to say that this India, that the anchors are trying to project, is not what India is about and that is not the India I know,” she said as she stated that few channels were showing Kashmiris in a “bad light.”
She said when she sees the retired ‘beard-wallahs’ from the other side (Pakistan) and ‘mooch-wallahs’ from this side screaming at the top of their lungs on television news channels, she feels they are taking out their “frustrations” about so many wars that the two countries saw.
“I see that their eyes are bulging out, so much anger and some time they sweat too. I don’t want to be associated with this type of India or Pakistan…,” she said.
Mehbooba said she wants to see an India which feels the pain of Kashmir.
“I want to see that India which accepted us on our conditions. We are a diverse State with all kinds of multi- diversity of religion and every thing… Sometimes they talk about our flag, sometimes about Article 370,” she said.
Mehbooba warned that any tinkering with the special status granted to the State will have serious ramifications and there will be no one to hold the tricolour.
She spoke on issues like Article 35-A, which gives special status for Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, and said efforts should be made that no one tinkers with it.
Mehbooba said by challenging Article 35-A in the Supreme Court, none of the separatist groups in the Valley was getting affected as they were on a different agenda all together.
“But, you are weakening those powers which are Indian and trust India and participate in elections and who fight to live a life honourably in Jammu and Kashmir. This is one of the problem,” she said.
In 2014, an NGO ‘We the Citizens’ had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking striking down of Article 35 A. They contended that the President could not have amended the Constitution by the 1954-order and it was supposed to be a temporary provision.
The PIL said the State Government, under the guise of Article 35A and Article 370 which grants special autonomous status to the State, has been discriminating against non- residents who are debarred from buying properties, getting a Government job or voting in the local elections.
Article 35A was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954 and it accords special rights and privileges to the natives of the State and empower its legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating right to equality of people from other States or any other right under the Constitution.
While the Jammu and Kashmir Government contested the petition saying the President has the power to incorporate a new provision in the Constitution by way of an order, the Centre recently expressed its reservations in filing a reply and requested the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar to refer the matter to a larger bench as Constitutional issues were involved in the case.
Mehbooba, while delivering her keynote address at the ‘Understanding Kashmir’ session hosted by social group BRIEF, said Kashmir is an idea of India.
“The basic question is how much is the idea of India ready to accommodate the idea of Kashmir? This is the crux,” she said.
She recounted how during Partition, Kashmir, even being a Muslim majority state, defied the two-nation theory and the divisive separation on grounds of religion, and aligned with India.
“There have been special provisions in the Constitution for the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, with the passage of time something happened somewhere that both sides (State and Centre) started doing dishonesty,” she said.
“Rather than addressing the problem, we took administrative measures like dismissal of Government or making charges of conspiracy, sedition…
“…We had all these things against separatists which at times led to their hangings, weapons exclusive to Kashmir and more security measures and increasing number of security people.
“These administrative measures have not helped us to address the idea of Kashmir…,” Mehbooba said. (PTI)
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