Article 370 Abrogation Harmed J&K Ties With Rest of Country: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar: On a day the Lok Sabha passed the important Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah slammed the Centre alleging that the abrogation of Article 370 harmed the bond between Kashmir and the rest of the country. 

The people of J&K and Ladakh “aren’t happy” with the Centre’s decision to revoke the region’s special status, Abdullah told reporters in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday as the Lok Sabha passed the Bills.

“It is the right of people of J&K to use their vote and elect their leaders. We are being kept away from this. A fixed match is being played. When you ask the Election Commission (EC) about elections, it points at the Centre, and when we ask the Centre, it points towards the EC,” the former chief minister (CM) said.

#WATCH | J&K National Conference leader Omar Abdullah says, "It is the right of people of J&K to use their vote and elect their leaders. We are being kept away from this. A fixed match is being played - when you ask the Election Commission (about elections in J&K), it points at… pic.twitter.com/8b1uq2xozw

— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2023

Regional political leaders termed the abrogation “illegal” and a “violation” of Constitutional provisions and the Representation of the People Act, 1952. 

PDP president and former CM Mehbooba Mufti said, “This is illegal because the abrogation of Article 370 (of the Constitution) was done illegally and the matter is sub judice in the Supreme Court. When something is sub judice, how can they [Centre] make a law on it?” she told the media in Srinagar on Tuesday.

“This is illegal; they are trampling on the Constitution, Parliament and the Supreme Court. They are trampling on every institution of the country,” she alleged.

Mufti, during her address to a workers' convention, called for urgent collective action against the increasing “onslaught” on the rights and dignity of people as she accused the BJP of using arbitrary measures to control the Union Territory. 

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill allows the lieutenant governor to nominate up to two Kashmiri Pandits to the Assembly. Many believe that the Bill would further widen the rift between Pandits and resident Muslims.

Senior J&K Pradesh Congress Committee leader Ravinder Sharma slammed the Bill for allocating only one seat to PoK refugees and termed it a “betrayal” by the BJP against the promise of allocating eight seats to refugees.

“Again, Kashmiri migrants are being allocated two seats, which too is less for them. But why one seat to the refugees whose number is above 15 lakhs today? What is the criterion for allocating Assembly seats in the Bill?”