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| Order on State flag had outraged Jammu | | A commendable withdrawal | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 14: The PDP-BJP coalition Government did a right thing on Friday to withdraw the controversial order on the State Flag within 24 hours of its issuance - order that had outraged the sensitivities of the nationalist people of the state in general and Jammu and Ladakh in particular. Had the state government not withdrawn the order, things in Jammu would have assumed alarming proportions and embittered the relations between the coalition partners (PDP and BJP). In fact, Fridaywitnessed the people of Jammu province expressing their anger against the government, with radicals among them asserting that "dangerous moves are afoot to set the state on firing by issuing such controversial and unsettling orders".
On Thursday, Mohammad Ashraf Bukhari, Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), had issued a circular, which said: "As per the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the Delhi Agreement of 1952 and keeping in view the historical background, the state flag has the same sanctity and position as the Union Flag has under the Indian Constitution and other statutory provisions. Therefore, this sanctity and position has to be maintained at all costs…All the constitutional authorities are enjoined upon to maintain the sanctity of the state flag at all costs, as is being done in respect of the Union Flag. The flag shall always be hoisted jointly (with the National Flag) on the buildings housing constitutional institutions and shall be used on the official cars of constitutional authorities. Any deviation in this regard shall amount to insult to the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Insult to State Honors Act, 1979".
Surprisingly, the order that had the potential of creating serious troubles for the government in Jammu province and had already attracted the attention of the ever-alert national media was issued without the approval of the State Cabinet. According to reliable sources in the Secretariat, even Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh were not kept in the loop by the official who issued the controversial order without weighing its pros and cons or without realizing its serious implications. Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Nirmal Singh on Friday confirmed that neither the Chief Minister nor he knew that such an order had been issued. "It was surprising for us, including the Chief Minister [Mufti Mohammad Sayeed] that a circular has been issued with regard to the state flag. We don't know who did it. That is why the circular was withdrawn," he said.
Credit goes to the coalition government which ordered the withdrawal of the order that had triggered a major controversy and embarrassed the BJP in particular. Withdrawing the order on Friday, the official spokesperson said: "The draft of the circular was not approved by the 'competent authority' before it was issued on March 12. Appropriate administrative action would be taken after an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the issuing of the circular".
The decision of the government to withdraw the order has been widely welcomed by the people of Jammu province. On the other hand, NC working president Omar Abdullah and others of his ilk, have denounced the otherwise positive and timely move and questioned the very intentions of the PDP leaders, especially the party patron and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. "Why on earth would they withdraw the order? The order was correct & timely," Omar wrote on twitteron Friday, asked Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed about his statements about
standing up to the BJP, RSS and Centre. "What was that about standing up to the BJP/RSS/Centre Mufti Sahib?" he asked. But it was expected of the out-on-the-limb Omar Abdullah who has nothing else to do but to play negative politics and further widen the already rather wide gulf between Jammu province and Kashmir Valley.
The PDP-BJP coalition government must ignore such irresponsible leaders as Omar Abdullah and, instead, focus on issues of governance and development. It must not walk into the trap pf the NC and the Congress, which too has been indulging in rabble-rousing ever since its humiliating defeat in the assembly elections. |
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