File photograph of senior PDP chief Naeem Akhtar. Mr. Akhtar, together with PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and NC chief Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, on April 16 stated the Central Government bypassed the mandated session mechanism whereas referring to former Governor Satya Pal Malik’s account of the studying down of Article 370.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on April 16 stated former J&Ok Governor Satya Pal Malik’s account of the studying down of Article 370 in 2019 confirmed that the mandated session mechanism had been fully bypassed by the Centre.
“An appointed individual of the GoI (Government of India) was deciding for 14 million people and he brazenly says that it was their [the BJP’s] government [decision], as ‘ Mujhe kya, unko karna tha to karte, na karna tha to na karte, mujhe kya tha’ (What’s it to me? If they wanted to do it, they would; if they didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t). This is how the fate of the people of J&K was decided on that day. This is how they lynched and murdered democracy,” senior NC chief and former Minister Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi stated.
He was referring to the assertion made by Mr. Malik in an interview to The Wire lately. “I was told a day before that a letter has been sent to me which I should open in the morning and get it approved at that very moment. It was their [the BJP’s] government [at the Centre]. Whether they wanted to keep it or remove it, why would I object?” Mr. Malik had stated within the interview.
Mr. Mehdi stated the Clause 3 of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution says that abrogation may not occur with out the concurrence of the State’s, on this case J&Ok’s, Constituent Assembly, that’s, the desire of the individuals. “And this is how the concurrence was taken from the people of J&K — daylight thuggery,” Mr. Mehdi stated.
Senior PDP chief Naeem Akhtar stated any try at “tampering with Article 370 in J&K should have been essentially ratified by J&K’s Constituent Assembly of 1951”.
“Leave aside the legal requirement of having the approval of the Constituent Assembly, the Governor acted as Constituent Assembly and did not know what a letter from Delhi held in it. Even the draft came from Delhi and Satya Pal signed on the dotted line. If ever this case is legally scrutinised, even a Khap Panchayat (non-state leadership by community elders, usually along caste lines) will have to cancel the August 5 fraud,” Mr. Akhtar stated.
Former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti stated the killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Uttar Pradesh was a diversionary tactic to shift consideration from the revelations over the Pulwama assault, and corruption. (*5*) Ms. Mufti stated.
