Separatists threaten mass agitation if Article 35A is diluted

Srinagar: An alliance of key separatist leaders called ‘Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL)’ has asked people of Jammu and Kashmir to be ready for sustained agitation if the Supreme Court (SC) delivers a verdict against their “interests”.

The Apex Court is scheduled to hear a petition seeking removal of Article 35A of the Constitution on Monday. Article 35A empowers the J&K Legislature to define “permanent residents” of the State and provide special rights and privileges to them.

An NGO said, ‘We the citizens, believed to be an RSS think-tank, challenged Article 35A in the SC in 2014 on grounds that it was not added to the Constitution through amendment under Article 368 and that it was never presented before Parliament, and came into effect immediately.

In another case filed in the SC in July, two Kashmiri women argued that the state’s laws, flowing from Article 35A, had disenfranchised their children.  

The JRL which has on it Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik said, “A full-fledged agitation will be started if some decision comes against the Article 35A when the Indian Supreme Court hears the petition on Monday.”

It has alleged that a “conspiracy” has been hatched to change the demography of the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.

It has warned that if the State Subject Law which is in force since 1927 is diluted or any amendment introduced to weaken the laws that protect the “interests’ of the people of the State or pave the way for settlement of outsiders in the state, the people will resist it tooth and nail.

The JRL said in a statement that the plan to tinker with Article 35A of the constitution was a “well thought out ploy” to end the special status of the state.