news details |
|
|
| J&K Government creating confusion | | Instrument Of Accession | | Rustam
Jammu, July 31: Sometime back, Irfan Hafiz Lone, vice-president of Baramulla Bar Association (BBA), submitted an application to the State Government under the Right to Information Act, 2009, seeking information about the Instrument of Accession (IOA). Believe it or not, but it is a fact that the State Government invoked Section 8 of the RTI and rejected his application, saying its disclosure would "impinge upon the security, sovereignty and integrity of the country". "The application is rejected under Section 8 of RTI Act which provides (that the) Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State or lead to incitement of an offence (cannot be disclosed)," Muhammad Shad Saleem, Public Information Officer (PIO), General Administration Department, (GAD) said. The State Government asked the applicant to file an appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA), GS Chib, Special Secretary, GAD. Section 16 of the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act empowers an applicant to file appeal before the FAA if he/she is not satisfied with the answer of the State Government.
Lone had also sought information from the Government of India about the IOA under the Indian Right to Information Act. The Government of India disclosed the whereabouts of the IOA and informed him that the same was available with the National Archives of India NAI), Janpath, New Delhi. According to the Government of India, the Union Home Ministry transferred the IOA to the NAI in 2010. The information given to Lone also reportedly revealed that the "signatures of Maharaja Hari Singh (ruler of Jammu & Kashmir) and Lord Mountbatten (last Governor-General of India) are seen on the document".
It is not important to know why Lone sought information about the IOA. What is intriguing and questionable was the response of the Jammu & Kashmir Government. That Maharaja Hari Singh exercising powers vested in him acceded to India and that the Government of India accepted the offer is a historical fact. There was nothing whatsoever conditional and confidential in the accession offer. In fact, the Instrument of Accession signed by Hari Singh was similar to the one signed by 560 odd princely States and the document had been prepared by the State Department of the Government of India, and not by the Government of Maharaja Hari Singh. The State Government should have given the desired information to Lone. That it acted otherwise and rejected his application only indicates that its intentions are not pious and that it willfully wants to create confusion in the minds of the people of the State in general and Kashmir in particular. The State Government is being led by a party which doesn't consider Jammu & Kashmir an integral part of India in the real sense of the term. As for the Congress, less said the better. Suffice it to say that it was this party which created Kashmir problem out of nothing to pander to Kashmiri separatists and communalists. Its attitude has not undergone any change even after 65 years of the State's accession.
Let it be known to one and all that Hari Singh acceded his State to India as per the Constitutional law on the subject and that the then National Conference president Sheikh Abdullah, who otherwise had no locus standi in the matter, had endorsed the accession offer. The fact of the matter is that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted the accession offer only after Sheikh gave his okay. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
