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| Controversial Noorani questions Abdullahs' intentions | | Yousuf's Death | | Rustam
JAMMU, Oct 9: Lawyer and commentator AG Nootani, who has written extensively on Jammu and Kashmir and has all along advocated for the state a solution outside the political and constitutional organization of India on the ground that it is a Muslim-majority state, has taken on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and NC president and union Minister for Renewable energy Farooq Abdullah and dismissed with contempt their suggestion that they want the mysterious death of NC worker Syed Mohammad Yousuf to be probed by a judicial commission. Noorani is known India-baiter and pro-Pakistan and pro-Kashmiri separatists. He is also known for his full support to the former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's four-point Kashmir solution that not only provides for demilitarization of and self-governance for the state but also suggests a mechanism that empowers Pakistan to share sovereignty with India in Jammu and Kashmir.
Noorani, like chairman of the Minorities Commission of India Wajahat Habibullah and Kashmiri leaders - "mainstream or otherwise -- doesn't consider Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India. In fact, he equates the state with Aaland Islands and South Tyrole and similar other disputed territories in the world. Initially, he was a protagonist of greater autonomy or pre-1953 position (read semi-independence). His attitude underwent a change when the PDP made public its self-rule doctrine. In fact, he became a votary of the self-rule doctrine. Self-rule doctrine is combination of the Musharraf's formula and the National Conference's autonomy committee report.
All this should help understand Noorani and his views on Pakistan, India and its Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference and its autonomy concept and People's Democratic Party and its self-rule doctrine. As mentioned, Noorani has rebuffed the Abdullahs. Besides, he has dismissed their "strident refrain 'Commission, Commission' as "a clumsy ruse".
Normally, no sane person appreciates Noorani and whatever he writes on Jammu and Kashmir. But what he wrote in his latest political essay deserves consideration and appreciation. His political essay on the controversy over the death of Yousuf appeared only today in an English language daily under the caption "Commission of Inquiry a ruse".
There is no need to reproduce his political essay, but, undoubtedly, it is important to catalogue here the very serious questions he has raised in his very timely, candid and pithy essay. Some of the most significant questions raised and observations made by Noorani are:
"The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and the Union Minister Farooq Abdullah are very much mistaken if they believe that their tactics will save them by buying time. Their strident refrain 'Commission, Commission' is a clumsy ruse".
"Commission of Inquiry takes long to set up and longer to deliver their reports. To anyone who questions this mechanism both Omar and Farooq Abdullah ask, 'Do you question the judiciary?' This insulting joke will not fool or silence anyone. It exposes the one who asks the question".
"A Commission of Inquiry is a purely fact-finding body. It cannot give a binding order, let alone punish. It is for the Government appointing it to accept or reject its 'recommendations'. In this case: Omar Abdullah himself".
"Crimes are investigated by the police and the culprits are tried by a court of law. Would the country have allowed the Government of India to set up a Commission of Inquiry in the 2G scam with the Ministers continuing in office meanwhile?
"Have you ever heard of a case of crime being referred to a Commission of Inquiry rather than to a court of law after prompt police investigation? It is simply unheard of. Why then this quack remedy if not to buy time and silence protest?"
"On 7 October, we find the CM angrily telling Arnab Goswami of Times Now he would set up a Commission. Interestingly, he was none too sure whether an FIR had been filed or not".
"Commissions of Inquiry do not begin hearings immediately. A preliminary hearing is held, procedure outlined and then - the police is asked to hold investigations to assist the Commission. There is a difference between 'investigations' and 'inquiry' in law. Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather, the Finance Minister rightly said, on 2 October, It is a matter of investigation".
"There is another fundamental flaw. That is why the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, empowers the Commissions, by Section 5 A, to utilize the services of 'any investigation agency' of the Government - i.e. the police - 'for the purpose of conducting any investigation pertaining to the inquiry'. But for this the consent of the appointing Government is necessary. So the Commission of Inquiry will depend on the State police itself".
"Nothing less than a CBI inquiry or a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court will do".
On 1 July 1972, Britain's Home Secretary Reginald Maulding resigned though he was not suspected of any wrongdoing. But an associate John Poulson had come under police investigation and the police fell under the Home Secretary's domain".
"Neither Omar nor Farooq Abdullah can continue in office without affecting the integrity of the probe and debasing the offices they hold. Their evasive statements and bland sweeping denials reveal a shocking state of affairs which neither the Congress Party nor the Government of India can condone any longer". |
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