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| Opposition to Vaidik's views on J&K | | Congress and Omar's politics | | Neha
JAMMU, July 29: Now that the issueless Congress has repeatedly questioned what the aging freelance little known journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik did in Pakistan on June 29 and July 2 and charged the BJP-led NDA Government with not taking a stringent action against what it called "seditionist", it is time to expose the Congress's double approach towards J&K. Vedik had met the perpetrator of 26/11 terror attacks Hafiz Saeed at Lahore on June 29 and suggested during an interview to Pakistani TV channel, Dawn News, at Lahore on July 2 that J&K be allowed to become an independent country. The case in point is the Congress hobnobbing with the pro-greater autonomy National Conference (NC) and its unstinted support to NC working president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The Congress has been sharing power with the NC since January 5, 2009 - a party that has been consistently subverting the polity both from within and outside. As for Abdullah, he has been leaving no stone unturned to vitiate the atmosphere in the Valley by declaring again and again that J&K is a political problem that needed a political settlement and taunting the Parliament by saying that by repeating the words "atoot Ang" (integral part) again and again you cannot change the political status of the State. Besides, he has been terming as "draconian" the Armed Forces Special Powers Act AFSPA) under which the Armed forces involved in anti-insurgency operations enjoy a legal immunity, demanding demilitarization and speaking for and on behalf of Pakistan.
If New Delhi wishes to forge a lasting peace in J&K and harmonize relations with Islamabad, it has no other option but to roll back all the Central laws and institutions from the State and restore there a regime as it existed prior to August 9, 1953, he has been consistently saying. His demand, if accepted, would mean just a step short of complete independence from India. Vaidik doesn't hold any position in the Government; he is just a private individual. Omar Abdullah is not; he holds a high constitutional position, but he has hardly discharged his constitutional obligations towards the nation.
Has the Congress ever questioned the dubious credentials of Abdullah during the past five years and six months? Not even once. It needs to be underlined that he has been violating ruthlessly the Indian Constitution, the J&K Constitution, the Representation of People's Act, and even the 1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord, despite the fact that he took oath not once but thrice to defend the J&K Constitution and the Indian Constitution and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India. He took oath when he filed his nomination papers from the Ganderbal (Kashmir) Assembly constituency in 2008; he took oath in January 2009 after being elected as MLA from the said constituency and he took the same oath before assuming the office of Chief Minister. The oath in the Fifth Schedule of the J&K Constitution, inter-alia, reads: "I…will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India". The words "I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India" were inserted in the Fifth Schedule by the Constitution of J&K (Sixth Amendment) Act, 1965. Sections 40 and 64 of the J&K Constitution unambiguously say that no one can assume the office of a lawmaker and no one could assume the office of Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Chief Minister and Governor until and unless he/she takes oath according to the form set out for the purpose in the Fifth Schedule of J&K Constitution.
And what do the Constitution of India and the Constitution of J&K plus its Preamble say about the political status of J&K vis-a-vis India. Article 1 of the Constitution of India, which, like the US Constitution, doesn't give any state or any region or any section of society the right to secede on any ground whatsoever, says J&K is and shall ever remain part of India. First schedule of the Constitution of India defines the name and territory of the country and J&K figures at serial No 15 in this Schedule. Article 1 is part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution and it cannot be altered in any form whatsoever. Similarly, section 3 of the J&K Constitution says that J&K is and shall be an integral part of India and this section cannot be amended or scrapped. Section 3 also says, "The territory of the State shall comprise all the territories which on the fifteenth day of August, 1947, were under sovereignty or suzerainty of the ruler of the State". As for the preamble of the J&K Constitution, it says, "We, the people of the State of J&K, having solemnly resolved, in pursuance of the accession of this State to India which took place on the twenty-sixth day of October, 1947 to further define the existing relationship of the State with the Union of India as an integral part thereof". Even the August 13, 1948 UN resolution acknowledges implicitly the Indian sovereignty in the areas which Pakistan occupied illegally after rape, murder, loot and plunder in 1947-1948. The UN resolution asks Pakistan to vacate the aggression and authorises India to station its troops to maintain law and order there. So, the constitutional position is very clear and still Abdullah brazenly goes beyond the constitutional confines to further his sinister agenda.
Abdullah has not only been blatantly violating the J&K Constitution and Indian Constitution and oath of office and misusing Article 19 of the Indian Constitution that deals with the right to speech, but he has also been showing no regard to the 1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord. Section 3 of the Accord clearly says that "provisions of the Constitution of India already applied to the State of J&K without adaptation or modification are unalterable", but he continues to demand withdrawal of all the Central laws and institutions saying these have eroded the State's autonomy and alienated Kashmiri Muslims. It's time to call the Congress' bluff. It cannot have one yardstick for Vaidik and another for Abdullah. The wrongs committed by Abdullah are more heinous, as he holds the highest executive office in the State. It's also time for New Delhi to rein in the threatening Abdullah. |
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