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Tariq Bhat
Tariq Bhat

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Article 35A: Omar launches campaign to mobilise public opinion

PTI8_14_2017_000016A Jammu & Kashmir former chief minister Omar Abdullah during one-day convention of Article 35A, at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan in Jammu | PTI

After casting doubts over Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured that the BJP was committed to J&K's special status, the National Conference on Monday started its campaign to inform people about the dangerous consequences if the Supreme Court declared Article 35A,which bars outsiders from settling in the state, as illegal.

 ''If the assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is true why a counter affidavit hasn't been presented before the Supreme Court by the Centre to defend Article 35A,'' asked party's working president Omar Abdullah at a day-long conference on Article 35A, also called the J&K state subjects law. ''Instead of defending the Article, Attorney General of India has sought a larger debate on it,” he said.

The conference was attended by NC's district and block presidents of Jammu division. 

The convention is a part of a series of the workshops and meetings initiated by NC to mobilise public opinion in defence of the state subjects law.

The Article has been challenged by an NGO ''We the Citizens', an RSS proxy, on the contention that the Article was a Presidential Order and not an Act of Parliament and should be struck down for its discriminatory nature.

The Article has also been challenged by Charu Wali Khanna, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, married outside, on the grounds that the law bars her children to inherit their property after their death.

Omar stressed that Jammu will be the worst hit. “Not only will jobs squeeze for local youth but our business sector too shall suffer tremors with influx of traders from outside the state,'' he warned. ''Whosoever intends to push local businesses out of competition will find the Jammu region feasible because of its close proximity to neighbouring states apart from the relatively more conducive security scenario.”

He said if Article 35A is abolished, they will traverse back to the “unfortunate era of indignity, deprivation and oppression from where Sheikh Mohammed Abdulah had steered out the people of the state.”

“Maharaja had brought these laws into effect to save the interests of those locals holding land and to find representation in the state administration as there were apprehensions of non-state subjects usurping the locals,” Omar said. ''Laws enacted 90 years ago have withstood the test of time in preserving the identity of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh besides preserving their legitimate rights.”

He said the state's counter affidavit has been condensed to just eleven pages. The affidavit, for some odd reasons, is reported to be without any substance or any depth. He said the state government is putting up a weak case, perhaps intentionally.

The former chief minister said the move was part of a conspiracy to rob J&K of its special status and rights.

“BJP has been hell-bent to trample the special status of Jammu and Kashmir for a long,'' he said. ''But once they came to power, they realised their designs cannot be achieved politically, and therefore (they found out) a short cut of proxy judicial activism through various affiliated NGOs .

Meanwhile, artists and filmmakers took to streets in Srinagar against scrapping the state subjects law. 

Holding placards in support of Article 35A, top filmmakers, performing artists and musicians asked the government to preserve the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

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