‘Courts Can’t Settle Political Issues’

Srinagar: A day after Public Interest Litigation was filed in a Delhi court challenging the non-applicability of any Constitutional amendment in Jammu and Kashmir, without a Presidential Order under Article 370 of the Constitution, legal experts here said that this all was being done with a design to take away the core sovereignty of the state of Jammu and Kashmir

“From last couple of years it has emerged that political issues are being projected before courts of law under the garb of Constitutionalism. Such approach doesn’t have public support. Issues which can only be decided in a democratic manner can’t be dealt with by the courts. It appears that this all is being done under with a design to take away the core sovereignty of the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” leading Kashmiri lawyer Advocate Zaffar Ahmed Shah told news agency CNS and added that there is a dire need to fight these forces at all levels.     

Pertinently, a petition, which challenges the Constitution Order 1954 that adds a proviso to Article 368 of the Constitution has been listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal of Delhi court would be taken up for hearing on January 2.

Last year, a PIL, filed by an RSS backed NGO ‘We the citizens’, had sought Article 35A to be declared unconstitutional, contending the President could not have amended the Constitution by the 1954-order and it was supposed to be a temporary provision.

Another renowned legal luminary Advocate Altaf Ahmed Haqani said that courts are not to settle political issues. “After denying basic rights to the people of Kashmir now Government of India has been using courts to make inroads in Kashmir. It’s a judicial incursion and unfortunately state governments are acting as collaborators. The repeated PIL’s submitted in the courts of law challenging the remnants of special status of Jammu and Kashmir is one more attempt from Government of India to defeat the moral of people of Kashmir who have been demanding the right to plebiscite,” Haqani said. 
Accusing a section of Kashmiri Pandits of challenging the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in different courts of India, senior lawyer and president Kashmir Bar Association Mian Abdul Qayoom Wednesday said that no law passed by the Indian Parliament regarding the state of Jammu and Kashmir can be applied to the state without the Order of President of India in concurrence of the State government. “There are certain field where government of India has no say. Conspiracies are being hatched by some Kashmiri Pandit groups residing outside Kashmir to create doubts about the unique identity and autonomy of Kashmir. Earlier these Pandit groups challenged Article 35(A) and now they have filed a PIL in Delhi court challenging the non-applicability of Constitutional amendments to Jammu and Kashmir. These Pandits groups who work on the behest of BJP and RSS are the real enemies of people of Kashmir,” Qayoom told CNS shortly after the culmination of protest that lawyers community had organized in wake of the call given by the Resistance leadership.

Lawyers Hold Protest

Members of Kashmir High Court Bar Association assembled in the court premises Wednesday and staged a protest. The protest was led by Bar Association President Mian Abdul Qayoom. Addressing lawyers, Mian Qayoom said that the ongoing freedom movement has witnessed ups and down from past seven decades but people always supported the movement and yearn for the final resolution of Kashmir issue. He said Kashmir is a dispute that needs to be resolved in the light of United Nations resolutions. 

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