J&K: Sajad Lone pushes for Article 370 in LG’s speech, Speaker rejects

JAMMU: Peoples Conference MLA Sajad Lone’s amendments for restoration of Article 370, Article 35-A and J&K’s statehood in lieutenant-governor Manoj Sinha’s address to the assembly’s budget session were rejected on Tuesday amid bedlam over several issues, mainly BJP’s demands for a National Law University (NLU) in Jammu.

Sinha’s address at the start of the session on Monday did not mention the two matters. Rejecting the amendments, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather of the governing National Conference (NC) told Lone the House had already passed a resolution on special status in its first session in Nov 2024 and rules do not permit further discussions on an issue already debated.

The Speaker further pointed out that granting statehood falls within the domain of the Centre and advised Lone to raise only those issues on which J&K govt is competent to respond or take a decision.

Outside the assembly, Lone said four of his other amendments were, however, accepted, including those concerning daily wagers, NLU and condemnation of attacks on Kashmiris outside J&K.

Lone dismissed as “theatrics” protests outside the assembly by NC MLAs for statehood and special status. “History will read what was said and decided inside the House,” Lone said. NCP MLA Mubarak Gul asserted the demands will be raised in the House during this session.

The NLU row continued to polarise the House, with Lone citing chief minister Omar Abdullah’s assurance. J&K has no NLU at present but the demand for it to be located in Jammu gained traction after Omar said last year that it would come up in Kashmir’s Budgam. Omar has rejected BJP’s demands on NLU, calling them “politically motivated” and pointing out that there were no protests in the Valley when Jammu was given both an IIT and an IIM.

As House proceedings started on Tuesday, BJP MLAs renewed the NLU demand, while NC and PDP legislators took up the issue of alleged harassment of Kashmiri Muslims outside J&K.

BJP’s Surjit Singh Slathia pointed out that students are demonstrating on streets for the NLU to be based in Jammu and his party stands with them. Another BJP MLA, Balwant Singh Mankotia, argued that Jammu would be a better location for NLU in terms of security, weather and road connectivity.

NC MLAs highlighted the alleged harassment of Kashmiris in various parts of the country and were joined by some lawmakers of opposition PDP. “I support the cause, not NC,” PDP MLA Muntazir Mehdi clarified.

PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Para moved an adjournment motion to discuss alleged attacks on Kashmiris, arguing they were “hate crimes”. Speaker Rather rejected the move. He said the Omar-led govt has taken up the issue with various states and is thankful to Pushkar Singh Dhami, CM of BJP-governed Uttrakhand, for taking action recently in one such case.
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