Centre’s Article 370 affidavit in SC not based on facts, claim Left, PDP

Srinagar, Jul 10 (PTI) PDP and CPI-Marxist on Monday said the affidavit filed by the Centre in response to Article 370 petitions in the Supreme Court had no legal basis and was far from the truth.

“I don’t think there is any constitutional provision on terrorism. Centre has no constitutional or legal defence available for its unconstitutional actions in Jammu and Kashmir. So they have taken this terrorism ground,” senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar told PTI.

He said there were many states where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, was in force but only Jammu and Kashmir was singled out as particularly vulnerable.

“They have not degraded those states to the level of Union Territories. They have not punished the people of that state. They have only singled out Jammu and Kashmir,” Akhtar said.

The PDP leader said the party had full faith in the judiciary.

“We have full faith in the judiciary and this august forum has already twice upheld the Article 370 as a permanent feature of Indian Constitution in the absence of a constituent assembly in J&K which has ended its role in 1954,” he added.

CPI-M leader M Y Tarigami said even a cursory look at the Centre’s Supreme Court affidavit will reveal it is contrary to the facts.

“Truth is being obfuscated. Don’t we know how peaceful Jammu and Kashmir was before 1990?” Tarigami said.

“Why did violence erupt? The reason was that special status given to JK was eroded and the inimical elements got a chance to disrupt.

“What happened in 2019? They jailed all the leadership and revoked the special provisions of the constitution with a stroke of a pen,” he said.

“We don’t want enforced peace. We want a democracy where people’s rights are protected. That’s why we have approached the SC for restoration of the rights,” Tarigami said.

Only restoration of special provisions of the constitution can bring peace and prosperity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, he stressed.

“Was there no tourism before 2019? Was there no peace before? Why has there been no election since 2014? How did BJP come to become part of the government in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in 2014? Because there was peace,” the leftist leader added.