No court can change J&K residency law due to UNSC resolutions: Mirwaz

Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today asserted that no court had the jurisdiction to change the residency law of Jammu and Kashmir due to the UN Security Council resolutions.

"No court has the jurisdiction to tamper with the 1927 hereditary state subject laws of J&K because UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir clearly state that the citizens of J&K are to decide their final dispensation as a people, by exercising the right to self-determination, a right which is yet to be exercised by us," said Mirwaiz, addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here.

Mirwaiz said the commitment to the Right of Self Determination was made to the people of the state by the first Prime Minister of India, both before the people of J&K and the world.

"So how can any court challenge the UN resolutions and the commitments made by the Government of India that took the shape of Constitutional safeguards till the government honours its commitments?" Mirwaiz asked.

He said J&K was a "world-acknowledged dispute" and the people of the state would at no cost allow dilution of the dispute till it was resolved.

"The move of tinkering with the state subject law is aimed at undermining the dispute, by changing the demography of the state, settling outsiders here and making the locals a minority in their own land along the Israeli pattern in Palestine," he alleged.

He said such a move will not be tolerated as was shown by the exceptional protest strike observed by the people of the state on August 5 and 6.

"The leadership is urgently deliberating upon the issue and taking all segments of the society on board to launch a massive protest agitation to counter this onslaught against us," he added.