SRINAGAR: Terming the remarks on Article 370 by BJPs Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as unwarranted, Peoples Conference Chairman, Sajad Lone Tuesday said that Modi lacks information about the realities of Kashmir and it is better for him to go between the lines of Kashmir history before making any remarks about it.
In a statement issued today, Sajad Lone termed the remarks to represent a gross disregard to the sentiment of the people of Kashmir. If at all, the Article 370 was in itself an erosion of Autonomy of the people of Kashmir vested in the Instrument of Accession which extended only defense, communication and foreign policy to the Centre and retained all other aspects of Autonomy with the people itself. It was through Sheikh Abdullah that this essential erosion was undertaken, who readily bartered the rights of the Kashmiri people for the mirage of power that was dangled to him in exchange, he said adding that It was the Delhi agreement overseen by the Sheikh himself that enshrined and initiated the process of erosion of Kashmiri rights which was eagerly carried forward by the heirs of the Abdullah legacy.
Sajad Lone said that it was also on the instructions of Sheikh Abdullah that the clause of protection of basic Human Rights of the people of Kashmir was removed in the Delhi agreement under the fig-leaf of land reforms, enabling the Sheikh to entrench his own power and enrichment at the cost of the rights and protection of the common Kashmiri.
Being at the forefront as willing partners to the erosion of the various symbols of Autonomy carried out over the years in the state, why the crying hoarse by the NC leadership now? But then it has been a cardinal political strategy of both the blue-eyed oligarchies NC and PDP to whisper one thing in Kashmir and dance to another tune in Delhi. Having nothing but the lust for their own power at heart both the NC and PDP suffice to enacting theatrics once an issue is raised by the people with no practical groundwork to meaningfully follow it up – why else would the NC continue its support to the BJP with the present CM then continuing as MoS for Foreign Affairs at the height of the Gujrat Carnage in 2002 and the PDP patron Mufti Sayeed support the oppression against his own people in the capacity of the Home Minsiter of India in the early 1990s. Where was their unflinching love for their people and their causes then, Lone questioned.
Lone went on to term Article 370 inadequate to address the political grievances in Kashmir.
Despite the presence of the article and its constant erosion over the years, the problem in Kashmir has not only persisted but further aggravated, he said.
He said that there is definitely a need to revisit the Article but to be done within the ambit of magnanimity and reality. Only by providing a compatible and workable political framework respecting the will of the Kashmiri people represented by the more than 100,000 people who sacrificed their lives will the issue in Kashmir proceed towards some form of resolution and reconcilliation. A casualty of political exigencies and self-serving political entities the time has arrived in Kashmir to rid itself of the parasitical oligarchies that reign over it and usher in a new dawn of change and true empowerment.
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