NC urges Centre to fructify PM Modi's promise for Kashmir

The National Conference on Tuesday anticipated that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fructify his promise for Kashmiri's which he made from the ramparts of Red Fort during his Independence Day speech.

NC leader Devendre Rana said that his party also hopes that the Centre, acting on the statement of its Home Minister, directs the Attorney General to file a counter affidavit to safeguard Article 35-A in the Supreme Court.

"We asked the Home minister to fructify the message of the Prime Minister which was made from the ramparts of the Red Fort. We all want to cooperate on that statement of the Prime Minister and we do hope that it fructifies on the ground," said Rana.

"We have also appreciated Rajnath Singh's statement which he made in the Valley---that government of India will go all out and defend 35-A. We have requested him that keeping pace with statement which he made in Kashmir, the government should direct attorney general of India to file a strong affidavit and contest 35-A," he added.

Yesterday, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also hailed Singh's remark on Article 35-A and urged the Centre to file a counter affidavit.

Taking to Twitter, Omar said, "This is a very important statement from the Union Home Minister. His assurance will go a long way towards silencing the noises against 35-A."

Singh, talking about Article 35A, had on Monday said that the government will never take any step, which will hurt the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The government didn't initiate anything on Article 35A, nor it went to the court. I assure that the government would never take step which hurts sentiments of people of Jammu and Kashmir," Singh said while addressing the crowd on his four-day tour to the valley.

The issue has come to the centre stage of controversy after the Supreme Court's indication that it may be dealt with by a five-judge constitution bench, to ascertain that, if Article 35A relating to special rights and privileges of the citizens of the Jammu and Kashmir is ultra vires of the Constitution or if there is any procedural lapse.

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define "permanent residents" of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents, while article 370 gives special status to the state of J&K in the Indian Union.

Article 35A was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954 and accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of the Jammu and Kashmir. It also empowers the state's legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Indian Constitution.