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| Mufti being targeted by his detractors | | State flag controversy | | Early Times Report
jammu, Mar 18: The state flag circular was issued on March 12 by M A Bukhari, Commissioner/Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD) of the government of Jammu & Kashmir. The GAD comes directly under the Chief Minister. The circular said that the J&K flag "shall always be hoisted jointly (with the national flag) on the buildings housing constitutional institutions and shall be used on official cars of constitutional authorities", and failure to do so would violate the J&K Prevention of Insult to State Honour Act, 1979.
The circular was reportedly issued in the backdrop of a PIL filed by Abdul Qayoom Khan, a former Chief Conservator of Forests, before the High Court in March 2014. "I sought a direction to the state that November 17, the day J&K adopted its constitution in 1956, should be celebrated as republic day, and that all constitutional authorities should use the state flag on official buildings and cars," he told a national daily the other day. The court gave the state four weeks to respond, but it did not, and in October, he filed a civil miscellaneous petition, or CMP, Khan said. The case was last heard on November 15. Meanwhile, Khan joined the PDP, but resigned after it joined hands with the BJP.
The controversial circular was withdrawn within 24 hours. The withdrawal notice said that the circular had been issued without approval from "the competent authority". The official spokesperson said inquiry would be held to know under what circumstances the circular was issued and action would be taken against the official who bypassed the "competent authority" (in this case Chief Minister and Cabinet).
The withdrawal of this circular on March 13 is being exploited by the vested interests to corner Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and tarnish the image of the PDP in the Valley, its core constituency. (The PDP had won 25 seats from Kashmir, three from Jammu and nil from Ladakh.) The detractors of Mufti are seeking to tell the Kashmiri people that the "withdrawal of the circular was a political decision". "BJP is ideologically opposed to the special status of J&K. Its stated position is in favour of only one constitution and flag for all of India. Sources say the Mufti government acted under pressure from both BJP and RSS. It has had to also abandon its plans to release political prisoners in the face of intense anger from the BJP - and all-round outrage in Parliament - over the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam," a Kashmir-watcher and commentator said.
Another detractor of Mufti and votary of Kashmir's independence also expressed almost identical views. He, inter-alia, said: "Cometh the Nishan [the flag] last outpost of special status. What should have been an innocuous reminder by General Department to honour the state flag ended in a roll-back. Being a constitutional requirement mattered the least for cultural nationalistic take of Ek Pradhan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Nishan. Hence, yet another turnabout was imperative. The designed power structure dictated it. Ek Pradhan stands accomplished decades back by active collaboration of a political formation that had Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in fold. Ek Vidhan is almost a done job with mauling of separate JK constitution. It has been overridden time and again. No one can spell the mauling better than AG Noorani. And he does it too often to escape notice. Poor Nishan! How long would it hold, given the blowing winds, only future could spell? PDP has none to blame but its own refusal to come out of its grove and fence its formation by home grown support. Instead, it chose to invest in sectors, where dividends could not be but the returns it is getting with every passing day".
All this shows that the detractors of the PDP and Chief Minister Mufti are ganging up to play a mischief. They are systematically creating an environment in the Valley that would add to the difficulties of the PDP. In fact, it appears, they are provoking the Kashmiri Muslims against the PDP and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. It is obvious that the parties like the NC, individuals like Engineer Rashid and certain persons well entrenched in the influential media are all working in tandem to destabilize the coalition government. |
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