SrinagarChief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Tuesday that she has faith in institutions of the country and expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will dismiss a petition that challenges Article 35A of the Constitution.
Mehbooba Mufti made it clear that power battles or political ideologies will not be a hindrance if there is a threat to the special status of J&K and said that she had followed rival National Conference’s leader Farooq Abdullah’s “fatherly advice” on the issue.
“We have faith in every institution of the country. We have seen many attempts by some people who want to take us back to 1947. They rush to the Supreme Court over one issue or the other. But we have confidence in our Supreme Court, which has dismissed petitions challenging the special status of J&K in the past.
“I am sure the Supreme Court will dismiss the present petition before it,” Mehbooba said in her address at the Independence Day function held at the Bakshi stadium here.
Article 35A, which was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, empowers the state legislature to define permanent citizens and grant them special privileges.
A plea in the Supreme Court has challenged some of these provisions following which the Supreme Court has said that a constitution bench may examine whether Article 35A is gender biased and violative of the basic structure.
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Speaking here, Mehbooba said the people of Jammu and Kashmir supported Shiekh Abdullah and decided to accede to India as they found similarities in the pluralism that existed in the state and the country.
“The parliament at that time felt that Jammu and Kashmir is different from other states, it has a distinct identity. It was decided that Jammu and Kashmir will be given a special position in the Constitution of the country,” she said.
The chief minister said that there were mistakes committed from New Delhi as well as Srinagar.
“I don’t know what happened after that, why misunderstandings creeped in. Instead of becoming friends, we became enemies. There were some mistakes committed in Delhi and some mistakes here as well. The result has been that we are caught in violence for the past 30 years,” she added.
Mufti said that many people across the country believe that J&K is the crown of India. There is no doubt about it and it should remain like that, she said.
Mehbooba, who is running a BJP-PDP coalition government in the state, said that power battles or political ideologies will not be a hindrance if there is a threat to the special status of J&K.
“I assure my fellow citizens that whenever it comes to the identity of Jammu and Kashmir, we are all united. The battle for power and political battles are a separate issue.
I am thankful to Farooq Abdullah for meeting me. I sought his guidance on the issue of the challenge to the special status of the state. He gave me a fatherly advice and I acted upon it,” she said.
She said that as her state is faced with many problems, she will again seek Abdullah’s counsel whenever required.
I am hopeful that he will always give me the same fatherly advice, she added.
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The chief minister expressed hope that Pakistan will stop fuelling violence in the state which will pave the way for resumption of dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.
“Shelling has resumed on borders. Many lives have been lost. The schools are closed, many people have been forced to migrate from their villages. How long will this continue?” she asked.
Citing the example of US-North Korea stand off, she said Washington is keen to resolve the matter through dialogue even though there is huge disparity in the sizes of the two nations.
“For the past four months, China is creating trouble on the border. I am happy that our External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that war will not resolve any issue.
Dialogue has to be held even after a war. I am hopeful that Pakistan will also understand this reality and stop playing a negative role in J&K, which will pave way for dialogue,” she said.
Pakistan will have to keep its promise made to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that they will not allow Pakistani soil to be used against India, she said.
The Chief Minister had a word of advice for the parents as well. She appealed them to guide their wards to take up pens instead of stones and guns. Let us ponder, how is it that the guns manufactured somewhere far off find their use in every Muslim society. Why should it happen? Why cant our youngsters be put in productive, creative streams rather than in this confusion, she said in her address.
Resourceful Land
Describing Jammu & Kashmir as the land of saints and sages, the Chief Minister said it was Hazrat Shah-e-Hamdan (R.A.) who brought along hundreds of artisans who trained the people here in skill development in various fields. Hazrat Sheikh Noor-ud-Wali (R.A.) taught and practiced brotherhood, amity and harmony to our people, she added. She said Nature has bestowed the State with huge natural resources in the form of water, forests and scenic beauty which once harnessed optimally would not only usher in a developmental revolution in the State but also suffice the needs of country in terms of power, irrigation and other sectors.
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