Mufti says will take Army into confidence on AFSPA

He also ruled out any changes in the Constitutional position of the state. “I don’t think that by calling state’s Sadar’e-Riyasat as Governor and its Prime Minister as Chief Minister makes any difference in its powers,” Mufti said.

In a U-turn on its stand on Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said on Monday that his government will take the Army on board before discussing any proposal to withdraw AFSPA. Pointing out that apart from being Chief Minister he was also chairman of the Unified Command having senior officers of the Army and other security forces, he said that the government will take them on board while denotifying certain areas.

He also ruled out any changes in the Constitutional position of the state. “I don’t think that by calling state’s Sadar’e-Riyasat as Governor and its Prime Minister as Chief Minister makes any difference in its powers,” Mufti said.

Pointing out that Article 356 of the Indian Constitution, which empowers the President to impose Central rule, does not apply straightaway to J&K as has been the case with other states, he said that there are many laws passed by Parliament which cannot be enforced in the state unless ratified by the State Legislature. “We have a separate Constitution and I as Chief Minister took oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India as also to the Constitution of J&K,” he added.

In this context, he referred to Farooq Abdullah’s government enacting its own anti-defection law instead of extending the one passed by Parliament. “What Azad Sahib made is more stringent,” he added, referring to the amendment brought in by the Congress-PDP government, by which legislators irrespective of their numbers will lose membership in the House in case of them defecting to other parties or forming their own group. Likewise, instead of extending the 73rd and 74th amendment of the Indian Constitution to the state, its provisions were incorporated into the State’s own Panchayati Raj Act, he said. Significantly, PDP has all along been critical of the National Conference for erosion in the state’s special status.

He described the fractured mandate thrown by 2014 assembly elections as a chance to change the state’s destiny. “This is not a fractured mandate but a verdict to integrate Kashmir with Jammu and Ladakh and connect J&K with the rest of the country,” the CM said.

Source:: Indian Express