Calls for poll boycott till petitions against Article 35-A are dismissed
Srinagar: Calling for a complete boycott of Panchayat and Municipal elections, the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Society Coordination Committee (JKCSCC) on Saturday said that they will file a petition in the Supreme Court to seek restoration of Internal Autonomy as per 1952’s Delhi Agreement.
While addressing a news conference, JKCSCC members comprising Awami National conference (ANC) Vice President Muzaffar Shah, Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-ul Aslam, Adv. Javid Ahmad Mir, and Jaghmohan Raina of All Sikh Coordination Committee said that they will file a petition in the SC to seek the restoration of the internal autonomy as per the Delhi agreement in 1952.
Shah while talking to reporters said that the JKCSCC will also hold meetings across the state with all stakeholders and with the ruling party, opposition, regional political parties and Civil Society across India and Pakistan.
He added that the JKCSCC will also meet with the stakeholders across LOC in Muzaffarbad and Gilgit-Baltistan as proposed by late former Chief Minister G. M. shah in the five region summit plan submitted to governments of India and Pakistan, Resistance and Main stream organization in the year 2001.
“These exercises will be taken up in a time bound action programme of 18 months. It is a herculean task and we expect people from all walks of life to come forward to realize this goal,” he said.
The other JKCSCC members told reporters that the campaign launched by the group nine months ago to present a united voice cutting across region, religion, caste, colour and politics and its move to get all shades of political parties and civil societies as intervention applicants on Article 35A produced a unique situation yesterday in the Apex court, when the court witnessed a swarm of lawyers representing J&K Bar association with its President Mian Abdul Qayoom and team, JK Civil Society Coordination Committee members Adv Javid Mir, Adv Yasmeen Wani, Jammu based JK peace movement Dildar Singh regional political parties Nasir Aslam Wani of NC, Muzaffar Shah of ANC, Muzaffar Beigh of PDP, M. Y. Tarigami of CPIM, Congress working committee member Tariq Karra stood on one platform in defense of Article 35-A and its dismissal by the Apex Court,” they said.
“Though the matter is now scheduled for hearing on 19th Jan 2019, legally and constitutionally speaking, the case will stand dismissed as it happened earlier in the years 1961, 1968 and 2010 in the Supreme Court,” they said.
“It is the people of Jammu and Kashmir who stood in one voice across the state of Jammu and Kashmir for achieving this unique purpose,” JKCSCC said a day after the hearing on Article 35-A at SC.
The civil society also appealed all political parties across Jammu and Kashmir to continue exhibiting a united face to the whole world and ensure boycott of the upcoming Panchayat and Civic Body elections to be held in the state.
“We will ensure a complete poll boycott till the Article 35-A case in the SC is dismissed. No one will participate in these elections till the petition against the article 35-A is dismissed by the Apex Court,” JKCSCC members said, terming these elections as ‘a futile exercise’.
They said that time had come for all Stake holders, whether from Resistance camp or mainstream, Civil Society members of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh to come on a single plat for.
“Article 35-A and 370 have once again united us and it is our duty to come to the negotiation table across the state and firm up a concrete plan for the resolution of this issue,” JKCSCC added.
(With inputs from KNS)
