Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 30: Former MLA and senior leader of CPI(M), Mohd Yusuf Tarigami today said that Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Lok Sabha that Article 370 was `temporary’ and not permanent in nature, was unfounded and an attempt to distort facts and history.
“J&K acceded to India under the guarantees provided by the Constitution of India. Article 370 was the only Article of the Constitution of India which directly applies to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It is not a temporary provision but part of the basic features and structure of the Constitution,” he said in a statement, issued here today.
Recalling that Jammu & Kashmir State acceded to the Indian Union in respect of 3 subjects namely Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communication, Tarigami pointed out that it was for the Constituent Assembly of the State to determine in respect of which other subjects the State may accede. “Article 370 embodies this basic principle of solemn compact pact. It is the machinery to integrate the people of Kashmir with India with heart and soul and to stop their alienation,” he added.
Tarigami further said that the challenge against continuance of Article 370 has already been rejected by the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, which was of the opinion that the provisions of Article 370 continue in force and remain effective as the Constituent Assembly of the State had not decided to make Article 370 inoperative or to cease to exist.
“The Article 370 could be abrogated or amended only upon the recommendation of the State’s Constituent Assembly, which was dispersed in November 1956, after adopting a Constitution for the State. It is our unalterable opinion that Article 370 of the Constitution should act as a bridge between the Union and the State and the provisions which have been eroded from time-to- time should be restored without any delay,” he said and added that the present unrest in the State was essentially the result of erosion of the autonomous status provided under constitutional provision of Article 370 to J&K.
“The remedy lies not in attempting distortion of history but restoring the eroded autonomous status of the State,” he stressed.
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