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| State flag issue: Now, AAG jumps on to AG's bandwagon | | | Early Times Report
jammu, Jan 6: Two days after J&K's Advocate General Jehangir Iqbal Ganie asserted that the recent High Court orders on State flag will have no implications on its status or hoisting and the obligations provided under J&K Constitution vis-a-vis State flag "have to be fulfilled", J&K's Additional Advocate General Wasim Beg also jumped on to his senior's bandwagon and asserted that Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution were the part of the basic structure of the constitutional framework, and hence, couldn't be repealed or amended.
AG Ganai had said: "The double bench has only stayed the single bench judgment. Whether there is a circular or not, whether there is a judgment or not, the State flag remains there. The State flag has its own status, unmindful of a judgment or a circular". To be more precise, he said it was obligatory on the part of the constitutional authorities in the State to hoist State flag on their official vehicles and official buildings. There is no need to make any other comment on what he said, as what he said was self-explanatory.
Beg has gone several steps further and said: "Article 370 is the 'bridge' between India and the State of J&K, it is easy to say that it was meant to be 'temporary' in nature and must go, a very 'tempting' argument for those who want the Article to be taken off the constitution, but is it a 'clinching' argument? Let us assume that the argument cuts ice and Article 370 goes, does it then automatically result in the complete integration of the State of Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of the country? I would argue that (Article 370 having been taken away) Jammu & Kashmir would then get relegated to its original position, one of an 'Independent State'. When a bridge collapses, it does not bring two places closer, it splits them apart. If Article 370 was to fall apart, what is the 'legal glue' that will make it stick to India?"
Beg has further said: "Another argument that has been whipped up more recently is that Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution needs to be binned…Article 35-A essentially confers special rights and privileges on the Permanent Residents of the State of Jammu & Kashmir while laying down that the laws made by the State Legislature in that regard shall not be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with or takes away or abridges any rights conferred on the other citizens of India. This provision having been a part of the Indian constitution for over 60 years has only got entrenched with the passage of time. While the other citizens were not deprived of their rights and liberties, it was sought to 'safeguard' the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir by providing an 'insulating layer' to make them feel comfortable, to address their apprehensions as part of the negotiations held between the leadership of Jammu & Kashmir and India. It is a result of these negotiations that a 'legal relation' between the two sides was chalked out and the State having a 'Constitution' of its own is self-explanatory as to how Jammu & Kashmir stands out in comparison with the other States. It has been argued that Article 35-A has been unceremoniously inserted in the Constitution by means of a Presidential Order and that the Parliament was not taken into confidence. This argument cuts both ways as well, until 1994, there have been as many as 47 Presidential Orders extending Provisions of the Indian Constitution to the State of Jammu & Kashmir, should they be taken off as well? Provisions like Article 370 and Article 35-A form the basis on which Jammu & Kashmir decided to extend its hand to India, any efforts to do away with such provisions will only mean deceit".
What Beg has said is absolutely incorrect. He has behaved more like a Kashmiri politician than as a legal luminary. His whole approach is biased, illogical and it also indicates his attitude towards India and those who want New Delhi to bring J&K at par with other States of the Union in every respect.
Take, for example, his bridge theory. Article 370 is not a bridge between J&K and India. It is actually a wall of hatred created between J&K and India through a conspiracy hatched by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and sheikh Abdullah. The wall of hatred was created three years (Oct 1949) after Maharaja Hari Singh used powers vested in him by the Independence Act and merged his J&K State with India. This Article has nothing to do with the State's accession with India. This is the constitutional position. Article 370 was created as a temporary provision by the Indian law-makers and they have absolute legislative power to repeal it, alter it or amend it. But more than that, President of India himself can invoke Article 370 to scrap it. Article 370 confers absolute executive powers on the Union Government. What is needed is just political will, which no political party in India has. It is their policy of appeasement that has helped Kashmiri leadership to perpetuate this anti-people, anti-democratic and divisive Article.
Similarly, the view of Beg that Article 35-A, which makes invidious, humiliating and unjust distinctions between the people of J&K and rest of the Indians, cannot be repealed doesn't hold any water. Article 35-A applied to the State in a hugh hush manner and it doesn't have the backing of the Indian Parliament. The Government of India -- if it so likes -- can remove it from the statute book in no time. Again, the problem is the New Delhi's policy of appeasement and its utter failure to appreciate the view of Jammu and Ladakh which are bitterly opposed to Article 370 and Article 35-A.
The issue is not what Ganai and Beg have said about State flag, separate constitution and so on. The issue is the change in the attitude of the BJP towards the State flag, Article 370 and Article 35-A. It is the BJP which has given full freedom to those in Kashmir who hate the Indian Constitution, barring its divisive and discriminatory Articles 35-A and 370, and want to fleece the Indian nation. |
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