PDP makes 35-A common cause with NC, BJP guessing
Mudassir Ahmad
Srinagar, Aug 08: Amid controversy on the Article 35-A, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti drove to National Conference president Farooq Abdullah's home on Tuesday evening.
Sources said that the step was taken in the backdrop of Monday's opposition meet after which Farooq had warned of a public uprising in Jammu and Kashmir if Article 35A that confers powers on J&K legislature to define state's permanent residents is abrogated.
The CM's visit is all the more significant given its timing and also that never before in her tenure has it happened that she had called Farooq Abdullah.
Sources said that CM discussed the current political situation in the state with the National Conference President.
A National Conference leader said the meeting was taken up discussing ways to protect Article 35 A. “Dr. Farooq Abdullah suggested that the CM should consult other parties with an aim to create a wider consensus amongst similar-minded parties in this battle to prevent Article 35A being struck down in the Supreme Court,” the NC leader said.
“When it will come to scrapping the Article, you will see this mass of people rising. Don't forget when Amarnath land row thing happened, people rose overnight. This Article 35-A will be far greater a revolt and I wonder whether they (government of India) will be able to contain it,” Farooq had told reporters after chairing a meeting of opposition parties on Monday here.
The Monday meeting was attended by all opposition leaders including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, J&K Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir, CPI-M state secretary MY Tarigami, president PDF Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen, chairman DPN, Ghulam Hassan GH Mir and senior leaders of NC and Congress.
The parties decided to form a “United Front” to create awareness among people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh about the fallouts of the removal of Article 35-A.
The J&K Constitution, which was adopted on November 17, 1956, defined a Permanent Resident as a person who was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or who has been a resident of the state for 10 years, and has “lawfully acquired immovable property in the state”. The J&K legislature can only alter the definition of PR through a law passed by a two-third majority.
A non-governmental organisation ‘We the Citizens' have filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking striking down of the Article. While the J&K government has filed a counter-affidavit seeking dismissal of the petition, the government of India did not. Last month, the government of India told the Court that the petition has “raised constitutional issues” after which the court referred the matter to a three-judge bench and set six-week deadline for its final disposal.
