Parliament approves bill for bifurcation of J&K
NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR : The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 with 370 votes in favour and 70 against it. Having already been passed in the Upper House, the bill now awaits Presidential assent before becoming an Act. This will also revoke Artcile 370 which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 strips Jammu and Kashmir’s status of a state and converts it into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without legislature. “Over 41,500 people lost their lives in J&K due to militancy since 1989,” said Shah in Lok Sabha.
He further said that scrapping of Article 370 is not a historical blunder but in fact the Modi government is “rectifying the historical blunder”. “Law and order situation in J&K has not deteriorated; all actions taken were precautionary,” clarified Shah.
In his reply to the debate on abrogation of Article 370 in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah said “Article 370 is creating doubts over J&K’s relations with India” and that”India will continue to claim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”.”When normalcy returns to J&K, govt will have no hesitation in restoring its full statehood,” says Shah in LS.”
Modi govt has no intention to remove Article 371 which gives certain special rights to some Northeast states,” Shah clarified in Lok Sabha. It was an embarrassing moment for the Congress when Home Minister Amit Shah pulled up its leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for questioning the government how Jammu and Kashmir issue can be an “internal issue” if it is under United Nations’ monitoring since 1948.
Meanwhile , A PIL was been filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the process of making Article 370 redundant in its application to the the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state.
Shashi Tharoor: We all remember the last time PM unleashed a decision to the nation which was also initially applauded for his decisiveness, just like today and that was the disaster of demonetisation. Nation is still dealing with devastating consequences of that action.
I am saying it for the 4th time, and I have the patience to say it for the 10th time, Farooq Abdullah has neither been detained nor arrested, says Amit Shah.
Tharoor, Congress said Why we think it is indeed a black day? Because two former J&K CMs Omar Abdullah&Mehbooba Mufti are under arrest & the whereabouts of our own colleague Farooq Abdullah are still unclear. We still want to know where he is?Responding to the debate in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah said that revoking Article 370 is necessary as it undermines the parliament of India. “The law of the nation does not reach Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan uses this to instigate separatism in the hearts of people there,” says Amit Shah.
Earlier today, the opposition erupted in protested when Home Minister Amit Shah moved the resolution to revoke Article 370 from the Indian Constitution in Lok Sabha. Congress Member of Parliament Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said BJP had violated all rules to convert a state into a union territory overnight, and that Kashmir was not an internal issue of India.
Amit Shah replied to him, saying no one could stop the government from formulating new laws and provisions in Jammu and Kashmir. He also asked the Congress party to clarify its official position on the matter. “Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of Union of India. Kashmir ki seema mein PoK bhi aata hai…Jaan de denge iske liye! (PoK also comes in when we talk about Kashmir, we will give life for it),” the Home Minister said.
DMK MP TR Baalu termed the BJP government’s revocation of Article 370, without the consent of the principal stakeholders, an “undeclared Emergency”. Congress leader Manish Tewari said in India’s 70 years of history after Independence, it saw demands for union territories to be converted into states but this was probably the first time that a state had been converted into UT. Home
Minister Amit Shah, however, said Section 144 remains imposed in the state since Monday morning. Both People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah remain in makeshift jails. No incidents of violence have been reported from the Valley.
PM Modi tweeted: “I salute my sisters and brothers of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh for their courage and resilience. For years, vested interest groups who believed in emotional blackmail never cared for people’s empowerment. J&K is now free from their shackles. A new dawn, better tomorrow awaits!”
“In Parliament, political parties rose to the occasion, overcame ideological differences and took part in a rich debate that increased the pride of our Parliamentary democracy. For that, I congratulate all MPs, various political parties and their leaders,” PM Modi said in a tweet.
“Earlier Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by three families, but today 40,000 panch-sarpanch are drawing the framework for development of their villages. Modi government has sent Rs 3,500 crore directly to them via RTGS,” says Amit Shah
“41,000 people have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Do we still want to walk the same path? We have walked the same path for 70 years, shouldn’t we change our ways now?”, says Amit Shah. “How can Article 370 be a communal agenda? Minority commissions could not be formed in the state. This is due to Article 370,” says Amit Shah.
“Asaduddin Owaisi said we’re going to commit a historical mistake. We are not going to commit a historical mistake, we are going to correct one. After 5 years, seeing development in J&K under leadership of PM Modi, people of valley will understand drawbacks of Article 370,” says Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Joint Session of Parliament: We will take the case of Kashmir to the United Nations & apprise the International community of the treatment of minorities in India under the racist ideology of the BJP.
Pakistan’s army chief said on Tuesday the country’s military will “go to any extent” to support people in the contested Kashmir region, Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end,” said General Qamar Javed Bajwa after meeting with top commanders in Rawalpindi.”We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations in this regard,” he added, without elaborating further.
“The entire Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into an open prison and people have been caged for allowing the Government of India to steel whatever was left of constitutional guarantees made to them at the time of accession”, said PDP party spokesperson and former legislator Firdous Tak said in a statement.
“As soon as the gate will open and our people will be out, we will fight, we’ll go to the court. We’re not gun-runners, grenade-throwers, stone-throwers, we believe in peaceful resolutions. They want to murder us. My son (Omar Abdullah) is in jail,” said Farooq Abdullah.(With Agency Inputs ),.
