Srinagar: As the opposition over proposed petition on abrogation of Article 35 A is getting intense by the day, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti met opposition political parties who suggested that an All Party Delegation should meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.
JKPCC president G A Mir and the opposition leaders, CPI (M) State Secretary, M Y Tarigami, PDF Chairman Hakeem Yaseen, DPN president Ghulam Hassan Mir met Mehbooba at her Gupkar residence.
The leaders discussed the serious implications of removal of Article 35 A on the state and its relation with the country.
Mir while speaking to news agency KNS said that he met the chief minister at her residence, expressed his concerns over the issue and suggested that all the political parties and the people in the state need to come together for the protection of Article 35 A.
“I told the chief minister that her role is very important as she is the head of the state and heads the alliance with the BJP. She will be responsible for any tinkering with the Article 35 A,” Mir told KNS.
He said that the Congress party is ready for the support to the government for protection of the special status of the state.
“I told Mehbooba Mufti to lead an All Party Delegation to the Centre to apprise the people there about the disastrous fallout of the weakening or abrogating Article 35-A. Our duty is to defend the Article,” he said.
The Congress leader said that he felt the Chief Minister is “serious” and has “realised her mistake of bargaining her basic ideology for the chair”.
“May be her meetings (over Article 35 A) with the opposition is a signal to her alliance partner about any move to weaken the Article 35-A and special status of the state is not acceptable,” he said.
Mir who chaired the Congress meeting in Jammu said that he “is happy that Jammu leaders extended their support for the protection of the Article 35 A”.
“It is a concern of all the people of the three regions-Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir, cutting across the party politics and ideologies,” he said.
Tarigami told KNS that the leaders besides other measures suggested to the CM that a delegation of senior leaders and politicians should meet PM Modi and apprise him about the fallout of the removal of the article.
“We told the chief minister that the issue is very crucial and abrogation of the Article 35 A will be dangerous for the country and the state. Government should play its effective role with the centre and in the Supreme Court to safeguard and protect the article,” Tarigami said.
The senior leader said that the Chief Minister expressed her concerns about the removal of the article and said that the government is making all its “efforts” at all levels to contest the petition in the Supreme Court.
The leaders suggested the CM that people “who believe in democratic values in the country should be made aware” about the implications of the removal of the article.
(With inputs from KNS)
