Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said 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.
The CM 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 SC, which has dismissed petitions challenging the special status of J&K in the past. I am sure the court Supreme Court will dismiss the present petition before it,” Mehbooba said in her address at the Independence Day function held at the Bakshi stadium in Srinagar.
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.
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.
“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 CM 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.
The CM 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.
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.
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