Jammu and Kashmir Assembly passes resolution on restoration of special status

Members of Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly show support to resolution. Pic/PTI

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution asking the Centre to hold dialogue with elected representatives for restoration of special status of the erstwhile state.

The resolution, which also expressed "concern" over the "unilateral removal" of the special status, was passed without any debate as the Speaker put it to voice vote amidst noisy scenes.

With the passage of the resolution, the ruling NC said it has fulfilled one of its manifesto promises while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the "Assembly has done its job".

The members of the PDP, Peoples' Conference and CPI(M) supported the resolution during the voice vote.

The Modi government abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

J&K Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary moved the resolution which said, "That this legislative Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture, and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal."

The Congress, which is an alliance partner of the ruling NC, said statehood to J&K with constitutional guarantees, including protection of land and jobs rights must be restored, without any further delay.

BJP holds protest

The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit staged a protest to denounce the resolution on the restoration of J&K's special status, which was passed by the assembly on Wednesday.

Led by party president Sat Paul Sharma, a group of BJP workers came out of the party headquarters at Trikuta Nagar in the outskirts of the city in the afternoon and set ablaze a joint effigy of CM Omar Abdullah and his deputy Surinder Choudhary amid slogans against the NC-led government.

The unruly scenes in the House and vociferous protests by BJP members led to frequent disruptions of the proceedings and eventually the speaker adjourned the House for the day. The BJP members also tore copies of the document and raised slogans against the speaker.

Half-hearted effort

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the resolution passed by the Assembly for restoration of special status was a "half-hearted" effort which could have been written "in a better way".

"We believe the language of this resolution could have been better. There is no condemnation of abrogation of Article 370 in this resolution. They (NC) talk about holding dialogue for restoration of the special status. What is the dialogue for? Do they have any doubt that what happened on August 5, 2019 was wrong? I would say it was a half-hearted effort," Mehbooba told reporters.

The PDP chief said it was "sad" that the resolution did not term the abrogation as illegal.

2019
Year Article 370 was abrogated

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