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| STARK REALITY | | Sageer Report: Bar Association hits nail on the head | |
BY RUSTAM
JAMMU, JAN 3: The Bar Association Jammu (BAJ), the premier organization of lawyers, has hit the nail on the head. It has not just rejected outright the Justice Sageer Ahmed's report on the Centre-State Relations asserting that it is "totally anti-national, anti-Jammu and pro¬secessionist", but has also bitterly criticized Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Pradesh Cungre~-s President Pruf Saif-ud-Din Soz. The , BAJ has repudiated the report as "predatory".
Not just this. The angry lawyers and advocates, who also struck work, brought to a grinding halt all the activities in the courts and organized a massive demonstration in the heart of the winter capital, Jammu, the day before yesterday to lodge a protest against Justice Sageer Ahmed, raised slogans against the Chief Minister and the Congress President. They accused the Congress President of "pursuing the agenda of National Conference (NC)" and they also denounced Justice Sageer Ahmed for endorsing the "election manifesto of the NC", which, among other things, talked of turning the needles of the clock by 56 years or which, to be more precise, urged New Delhi to withdraw from the state all the Central laws and institutions introduced in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after August 9, 1953.
The protesting lawyers, under their president Sunil Sethi, even went to the extent o,f threat~Iiing a massive agitation in Jammu in the event of the Union Government accepting and implementing any of the recommendations made unilaterally and arbitrarily by Justice Sageer Ahmed. (Justice Sageer Ahmed submitted his report without the concurrence of the members of the Working Group constituted by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2006. All the members of the Working Group, barring those belonging to the NC, have publicly stated, and for right reasons, that Justice Sageer Ahmed never discussed the recommendations with them despite his solemn commitment that "his report will be based on consensus".)
The attack of the agitating lawyers and advocates was all the more bitter against the Congress, as compared to the Kashmir-based and Kashmir-centric NC, as they had not expected the Chief Minister to work for the national unity, empowerment of the people of Jammu and Ladakh and establishment of a secular and Democratic Party in the border state. .
Attacking the Congress President, they said: "Majority of the Congress legislators belong'to Jammu and it is ,;ery surprising that PCC chief advocates a report which is against the interests of the people". The Congress leadership just can't afford to overlook the lawyers' tirade against the party president, as also the fact that Jammu province in the state is the core constituency of the Congress party and that the people of the province not only returned 13 legislators to the Assembly in 2008 but also retuned to the Lok Sabha two members despite the party's controversial role during the Amarnath land crusade. To ignore the fast¬brewing anger in the Jammu province over the Justice Sageer Ahmed's report would be only to help the non-Congress forces. And, if it at all happens, it would not be a good omen for the country's premier political party.
The. BAJ cannot be qU~3tro-n-ed for th stand it has taken on the Justice Sageer Ahmed's report for the simple reason that the learned Justice has rejected the age-old complaint of the people of Jammu that they have all along been discriminated against by the successive Kashmiri-dominated regimes; for the simple reason that he has turned down the demand seeking Union Territory status for Ladakh; for the simple reason that he has treated the refugees from West Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and border migrants shabbily; and for the simple reason that he has rejected the Gujjars' demand for political reservation in the Assembly and Parliament.
The stand of the BAJ also cannot be questioned because Justice Sageer Ahmed has recommended the maximum possible autonomy for J&K, thus going beyond the confines of the terms of reference - two of the terms of reference were to "strengthen Centre-State relations" and "strengthen secularism" in the state. Even a naive would take no time in reaching a conclusion tilat Justice Sageer Ahmed has, instead of making recommendations calculated to further strengthen the Centre-State relations and promote secular values in the state, put forth suggestions which have simply negated the noble intentions of the Prime Minister and provoked the people to organize protest demonstrations.
The Prime Minister and the Congress party would do well to reject the Justice Sageer Ahmed report. This is imperative for the well-being of the people of the state as well as the entire nation. They should not do anything which has the potential of aggravating the state's already rather aggravated political scene and enabling Pakistan to fish in the troubled waters.
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