Article 35-A, J&K AT CROSSROADS

:  In Jammu and Kashmir protests never die, so are the issues.  Being protestant for the last seventy years Kashmiris find one reason or other to fuel their ongoing secessionist movement against India, the larger democracy in the world.  And this time petition seeking Abrogation of Article 35- A of constitution of India sparks a new row as Jammu and Kashmir regions pitted against each other on the same.

All the Separatists, political organizations including PDP, NC , Congress and trade organizations came together and asked for the two days Bandh on 5 th and 6^th August as Supreme court will hear the petition seeking repealing of Article 35-A. Former Chief Ministers including Mehbooba  and Omar Abdullah also made their intentions clear on the issue and warned of massive protests  and violence if Article 35A was abrogated.  They even moved one step ahead and told that there would be no  one in Valley shouldering Tricolour if Article 35-A got abrogated.

Article 35- A further widens the rift between Jammu and Kashmir regions as Jammu people being the nationalist are supporting the abrogation terming it as Gender Discriminatory and patriarchal. It restrains the rights of the women and her children being citizen of Jammu and Kashmir if she marries the man outside the J&K. And it limits the fundamental rights of the citizens of other states in Jammu and Kashmir.  Jammu based Lawyer Ankur Sharma contested the support of  Kashmiri secessionists to Article -35 A saying that this Article forms the theocratic and theological state within the Indian state and should be abrogated immediately if Nation wants to save Kashmir from Muslim Blackmail.

To understand the contention on the issue one must understand the Article 35-A.

 Article 35A was introduced in 1954 by the way of a Constitutional Order by the then President Rajendra Prasad on the advice of the Nehru government. To make any changes to the constitution or add a new law, the process prescribed by the constitution is to introduce the Bill in the Parliament. However in this case Bill was not presented in .    

So did the President act outside his jurisdiction? 

Is Article 35A void because the Nehru government did not place it before Parliament for discussion?

This question remains open.

A writ petition filed by NGO We the Citizens challenges the validity of both Article 35A and Article 370. It argues that. Article 370 was only a ‘temporary provision’ to help bring normality in Jammu and Kashmir and strengthen democracy in that State, it contends. The Constitution-makers did not intend Article 370 to be a tool to bring permanent amendments, like Article 35A, in the Constitution. 

The petition said Article 35 A is against the “very spirit of oneness of India” as it creates a “class within a class of Indian citizens”. Restricting citizens from other States from getting employment or buying property within Jammu and Kashmir is a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

 On the other side Are the Kashmiri secessionists who found it other opportunity to protest and raise Anti-Indian sentiment as they are claiming that Abbrogation of Article 35-A is a direct attack on there identity and special status conferred to them by Article 370.

BJP led centre Govt is also at the crossroads on the issue as 35-A abrogation woulld make Article 370 Null and void and help them in 2019 Polls. Terming the matter being subjudiced BJP keeps a safe distance from the matter as in both ways they would gain.

Kashmir-The Ggreat Game

Kashmir-The Ggreat Game

With the popular discovery of cricket, football, golf etc., everything suddenly became a game. The word was bandied about as loosely as, more recently, the word ‘scene’. The phrase ‘Great Game’ was coined in mid-nineteenth century following the long rivalry between Russia and British India for control of Central Asia. Kashmir itself became a game when British Government transferred it to Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu for a sum of Rs. 75 lakh in March 1846. Gilgit, the remote outpost of the Dogra Dynasty became a nerve centre of the Great Game.

At the time of partition of the Indian sub-continent, Kashmir Valley became a game between India and the newly carved state of Pakistan. After a few years, evil eyes of western powers fell on it, creating a headache for India with which Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra ruler acceded the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Since then the state once again bade adieu to peaceful days. Peaceful times can be counted as merely punctuation marks in a long description. The situation reached its nadir in 1989 when secessionist elements revived their nefarious activities under the cover of religious fanaticism in an unprecedented manner. By 1993, the movement for azadi was completely usurped by Islamic terrorists. Since then, Kashmir Valley followed by Jammu have become a playing ground for ‘dirty games’ by religious leaders, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and their political and religious mentors across the line of control between India and Pakistan, dividing Kashmir into two parts. The victims are hapless Kashmiris who have fallen pray to dirty games.
At the time of partition of the country in 1947, Majaz said quietly:
All these whose hands are dripping with blood
They were the very messiahs, the Khizrs.

There is an old saying about Kashmir “The earth, whose dust conceals the fire of the Chinar in its conscience
Can never go cold,