Aimed At Demographic Changes: Pak on Attempts to Scrap Article 35A
India’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a bunch of petitions challenging Article 35A’s validity soon.
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Pakistan said, on Sunday, 24 February, that any attempt to scarp Article 35A of the Indian Constitution, which provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was aimed at bringing about demographic changes and claimed that it was a violation of the international law.
Pakistan Foreign Office said it understands the Supreme Court of India is due to deliberate shortly on the petitions calling for scrapping of Article 35A of the Constitution.
The Foreign Office (FO) said any such move would be a blatant violation of the international law and the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which prohibit introducing material changes to the disputed territory.
No Change in Stance on Article 35A; Only Elected Govt Can Take Stand: J&K Govt
Putting all speculation to rest, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday, 24 February, said its stance remained unchanged that only an elected government would be able to take a stand on Article 35A before the Supreme Court, which is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging its validity.
Addressing a press conference, senior bureaucrat Rohit Kansal, who has been designated as the chief spokesperson of the governor's administration, said,
He was replying to a question on whether there was a change in the stand of the governor's administration on the contentious issue.
Kansal also urged the people of the state not to pay heed to rumours and get panicky on the basis of unsubstantiated and exaggerated pieces of information which were in circulation.
The Jammu and Kashmir government's counsel had sought permission from the Supreme Court for circulating a letter among the contesting parties for adjourning the upcoming hearing on the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna was told by lawyer Shoeb Alam, representing the Jammu and Kashmir government, on 11 February that he was seeking its nod to circulate the letter among the parties for getting the scheduled hearing deferred.
"On the day of listing, the undersigned (Alam) shall be requesting for an adjournment in the matter since presently, there is no elected government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the state is under President's Rule.
"The present matter involves a sensitive issue regarding a challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution of India. A short reply has been filed by the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the lead matter 'We the Citizens' and notices have not been issued on the other petitions. It will therefore be requesting that the matter may kindly be heard when an elected government is in place," the state government said in the letter.
What is Article 35A?
Article 35A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property in the State.
It denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state. The provision, which leads to such women from the state forfeiting their right over property, also applies to their heirs.
The bench is hearing several petitions including the one filed by NGO 'We the Citizens' through lawyer Barun Kumar Sinha.
Several petitions, including those by political parties like the National Conference and the CPI-M, were also filed in the Supreme Court in support of Article 35A that also empowers the state Assembly to define "permanent residents" for bestowing special rights and privileges to them.
The state government, while defending the article, had cited two verdicts of the constitution benches of the Supreme Court in 1961 and 1969, which had upheld the powers of the president under Article 370(1)(d) of the Constitution to pass constitutional orders.
India’s Stance on Pakistan Post Pulwama Attack
Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on 14 February in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district, sparking outrage in the country.
India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
(With PTI inputs)
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