Valley Lawyers' Body Barred from Holding Polls, Asked to Clarify Stand on Kashmir ‘Dispute’

Srinagar: The district authorities of the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday barred the Kashmir’s High Court Bar Association, a lawyer’s body with over 1,300 members, from holding elections until it clarifies its position on the region’s political status.

In its notice served to the bar association president and the election committee, the District Magistrate of Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, has asked the body to clarify its position on terming Kashmir as a “dispute”.

The JKHCBA Srinagar, the notice reads, has mentioned in its constitution that one of the objectives of the bar is “to find ways and means, take steps, for resolving the issues concerning the public at large, including larger issue of peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute.”

“You are required to explain your position on the subject, since it’s not in consonance with the Constitution of India, whereby J&K is an integral part of the country and not a dispute; and also in conflict with The Advocates Act 1961 which governs the subject...,” the notice from DC Choudhary said.

The bar association has also been asked to submit documents related to the body, including the Article of Association, a certificate issued by the competent authority, documents of its registered office and executive body and the validity of registration.

The lawyers, however, believe that the move is aimed to defer the polls in the body which have been due for months now and were deferred earlier in October this year after the administration opposed them citing COVID-19 pandemic. The polls were scheduled from Tuesday in a phased manner to maintain the social distancing norms.

The administration has since issued prohibitory orders and imposed Section 144 of the CrPc which bars any assembly of more than four persons.

The bar association has earlier been led by prominent Kashmiri lawyer Mian Abdul Qayoom, who became its head for the first time in year 1986. Since then, Qayoom has served as bar president in successive terms repeatedly barring a few terms. The 70-year-old, however, was among the lawyers who were arrested in August last year along with politicians, businessmen, traders and other influential persons as a measure to curb any opposition to the government’s move to abrogate Article 370.

Qayoom, who survived an assassination attempt in 1995, was charged of being a staunch “advocate of secessionist ideology”. Qayoom was released in June this year after being held at Agra jail for months.

The lawyer fraternity in Kashmir is currently reeling under shock since a young lawyer, Advocate Babar Qadri, a vocal political analyst, was assassinated at his Srinagar residence earlier in September. He was shot by suspected militants from a point blank range, killing him instantly, on the same day when he had updated a video log on social media reprimanding the bar.