NEW DELHI, July 23:
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah today termed the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s Statehood “illegal” and urged for its restoration.
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Addressing a public meeting titled ‘Statehood Now’, organised by the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, the octogenarian leader claimed the Governor did not understand the law at the time of the move, which he had admitted in an interview.
“…people in power want you to bow before them. We are not here to bow. We are not here to bend. It is our right as Indians. Right (Statehood) given by the Constitution of India. What you have done is illegal. Restore it. Restore our Statehood,” Abdullah said.
He said that when the Centre abrogated Article 370, it justified the decision by claiming the erstwhile State was not progressing and there was terrorism because of these people.
“The very people who rejected Pakistan, when we have a religious identity with them, we said no, not that side, Gandhi’s side. I wish those leaders would wake up from their graves and see what India we have joined. Where are we going?” he said.
The former Chief Minister said the basic issue — whether it was Article 370 or statehood — lay in the divide between Delhi and Kashmir that had persisted since Independence.
“The real reason is that there is no trust in Muslims. I don’t know when that trust will come…this is the sad part. When will you consider us as humans, when will you treat us as Indians? I am a Muslim, I will live as a Muslim, I will die as a Muslim but I am an Indian Muslim not a Pakistani. The entire fight is on this,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Surinder Choudhary said the erstwhile State was converted into a “Municipality”.
“The people of Jammu and Kashmir can’t understand under which law we were converted into a Municipality,” he said.
Member of Parliament Manish Tewari said the Supreme Court judgment on the issue needs to be reviewed.
“I think the grounds of review are embedded in the judgment itself. So therefore if the speculation is correct, that the Statehood would be restored, that is one part of the problem but the pretentious precedent that this judgment sets is something which cannot be allowed to stand because it has implications far beyond Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami asked what crime the people of Jammu and Kashmir had committed that the Statehood was taken away.
Tarigami said he did not agree with the Supreme Court verdict on abrogation of Article 370. “You made Kashmir a jail and took a decision for us. This is not what the constituent Assembly imagined,” he said.
Politician and activist from Kargil, Sajjad Kargili, stressed that the Congress should not raise only the demand for the Sixth Schedule but also that for Statehood for Ladakh, and said the National Conference should also raise the issue of rights of the people of Ladakh. (PTI)
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