Srinagar: Independent legislator and leader of regional Awami Itehad Party (AIP) Engineer Rashid said on Monday that New Delhi has succeeded in changing the narrative on Jammu and Kashmir by dragging both mainstream and separatist leaderships alike into a debate over Article 35A which necessarily is a provision of the Indian Constitution.
Expressing disappointment over deferment of hearing on Article 35A in Supreme Court (SC), he asked the “genuine” Kashmiri leadership “to introspect and read writing on the wall and find out how New Delhi is successfully trying to change the narrative”.
He said the SC should have rejected the petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of Article 35A and closed the chapter once for all. “But Article 35A is being used as a tool to politically blackmail Kashmiris,” he alleged.
He said that undoubtedly every Kashmiri wants to defend Article 35A till J&K dispute is permanently resolved “but New Delhi has dragged every Kashmiri from Lakhanpur to Karnah in a debate which never should have been there”.
“It is ironic that after sacrificing everything since last 30 years Kashmiris are being forced to cry over and defend Article 35A. The debate should have been UN resolutions but the circumstances mostly created by so-called mainstream parties have brought situation to a point where even Geelani and Mirwaiz have been compelled to take pledge to protect certain clauses of Indian Constitution,” he added. The AIP leader said despite having certain differences with separatists “we all need to support them but they must introspect over their achievements and failures”.
