JKNPP stages protest to press for dissolution of J-K Assembly'

The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) staged a protest here Wednesday to press for dissolution of the state assembly, saying its prolonged suspension was "blatant violation" of law.

The JKNPP said the suspension of Assembly "was supposed to be a transitory period and its prolongation was blatant violation of law besides prevalent practices and precedents".

Dozens of JKNPP activists, led by party chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh, staged the demonstration at Exhibition Ground in the heart of the city and set ablaze an effigy of the BJP before dispersing peacefully.

The protesters were carrying placards in support of their demand for dissolution of the assembly.

"Nowhere in the country had any Assembly been kept in suspended animation for as long as four months despite none of the parties or combination of parties being in a position to form the government or even claiming to form the government," Singh said and asked why at all should the Assembly be kept in suspended animation.

"Is there any precedent, any law or any provision which allows you to keep the assembly suspended in such circumstances?" the JKNPP leader asked. He said Jammu and Kashmir provided the most "glaring example of flagrant violations of rule of law" and of constitutional provisions for promoting political interests by the "authoritarian and autocratic regimes".

Referring to the political impasse created in the state, the Singh said, "If no political party or combination of parties was in a position to form the government, the only option was to dissolve the Assembly."