New Delhi: A group of political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir have proposed a set of measures to the Lieutenant Governor for restoring normalcy including restoration of statehood and establishment of a Legislative Council.
In a letter to J&K Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu, political leaders, including former ministers and MLAs in J&K, have flagged measures that can be taken for meeting the political aspirations of the people.
The letter to Murmu has been signed by former ministers Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, Mohammad Dilawar Mir, Ghulam Hassan Mir; Democratic Party Nationalist President Zaffar Iqbal; and former MLAs Javed Hassan Beig, Noor Mohammad Shiekh, Choudhary Qamar Hussain and Raja Manzoor Ahmad.
The memorandum points out that since the revocation of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status embedded in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without one, “the majority of its residents are yet to reconcile with this decision”.
To win over the confidence of the people of J&K, the Centre will have to re-examine its decades-old policies vis-a-vis Kashmir. Depending solely on security measures and dealing with people’s political aspirations through the law and order prism will always have the old tested repercussions, the leaders said.
The leaders demanded restoration of statehood including establishment of a Legislative Council and providing reservation of seats for socially and economically backward classes, art, culture, languages, literature and sports. The leaders have sought domicile rights of people of J&K.
“This issue can be addressed by tangible legal and constitutional safeguards that can be put in place by virtue of which protection of domicile rights, including that of reservation for the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir in the matter of employment and that of admissions to professional courses is ensured,” they added.
In addition, they have sought release of detainees arrested after August 5.
“One of the psychological setbacks to a number of people in Kashmir is that their near and dear ones were detained around the August 5, 2019 decision. These people were not arrested for committing any violation of law, but were preventive detentions vis-a-vis law and order situation,” they said. (IANS)
