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| NC's autonomy means a step short of independence from India | | News Analysis | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 26: out-of-power National Conference, which got in alliance with the Congress a paltry 11 per cent votes in 2014 in the Parliamentary polls, on Tuesday again adopted a resolution asking the Narendra Modi Government to adopt and implement its 2000 Autonomy Resolution so that peace could be restored in the state. Grant of autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir would help restore normalcy in the state, its resolution said.
What did the autonomy resolution of 2000 vouch for? It vouched for a political concession based on religious considerations that would end the jurisdiction of India over Jammu & Kashmir except in matters related to defence, communication and foreign affairs. It's a different story that the Abdullahs, like Mehbooba Mufti, interfere in defence-related matters and Indian foreign policy on a daily basis by asking New Delhi to hold talks with Pakistan on Jammu & Kashmir and demanding revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
The NC autonomy resolution -- apart from asking New Delhi to withdraw all the Central laws and jurisdiction of institutions, including Supreme Court, Election Commission and Comptroller and Auditor-General - vouches for a system that prevailed in the state before August 9, 1995. In other words, it seeks the restoration of the Jammu & Kashmir Constitutional Act of 1939 under which the State Council of Ministers exercised absolute legislative, executive and judicial powers; under which the final interpreter of the Constitution was the Council of Ministers, and not the Jammu & Kashmir High Court of Judicature; and under which the Council of Ministers could seize any press on the ground that it published a seditious article against the authority of the state.
The NC autonomy resolution, if accepted and implemented, would also mean revival of the institutions of an elected Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam, institutions which were introduced in the state in 1965 and also restoration of permit system.
It needs to be noted that Jammu & Kashmir Constitutional Act of 1939 was in force in the state before January 26, 1957, when a new constitution framed by a 100 per cent rigged Constituent Assembly or framed by a 100 per cent National Conference Assembly was enforced with Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad as the state's Wazir-e-Azam.
The NC leadership seeks to make PM Narendra Modi to believe that Kashmir is the sole factor in the state and conciliating it would also mean conciliation of Jammu and Ladakh. Kashmir doesn't represent the aspirations of Jammu and Ladakh. The people of Jammu and Ladakh, barring a few disgruntled elements here and there, are religiously committed to India and to the Indian Constitution. Their belief is that their plight under the dispensation as being demanded by the Abdullahs and Mufti would be no better than the plight of the minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Their belief is well-founded.
Now the question to be asked is: Will PM Narendra Modi deviate from the path charted by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee had summarily rejected the NC autonomy resolution.
There are potent reasons to believe that PM Modi would do the same. For, New Delhi knows that grant of the type of autonomy to the state as demanded by the NC would lead to the creation of one more Pakistan on the soil of India. |
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