NEW DELHI: Left Parties have said that the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly’s authority to review any law passed by the Indian Government must be restored before elections in the Slate are announced.
Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) said that restoration of this authority, as envisaged in the 1976 agreement between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah, was mandatory if the people’s confidence has to be regained before the
Polls.
The Left parties discussed the issue at length in a meeting of the CPI(M) and CPI’s national coordination committee.
The leaders who attended the meeting were: A.B. Bardhan, Chaturanan Mishra, D.Rajaand Atul Kumar Anjan (ll CPI), Harkishan Singh Surjeet, S. Ramachandra Pillai, P. Ramachandran and Sitaram Yechury (CPIM).
According to Bardhan, considerable dilution had taken place in the Kashmir Assembly’s authority to ratify any Indian Law or any provision Article 370 of the Constitute which grants the State a special status in the Constitution.
The agreement came when Sheikh Abdullah was released from jail in 1976 and led to hopes that the Kashmir issue would be resolved.
“But nothing positive has happened since then. Instead, a considerable dilution of Article 370 has taken place. ‘The Union Government must do something about his now,” Bardhan said.
The Left feels that Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao will make an announcement on Kashmir after his return this week from the foreign tour.
“It must be a substantial announcement granting maximum autonomy to. the people of Kashmir,” added Chaturanan Mishra.
The Left has for long been arguing that autonomy must be granted to Jammu & Kashmir before any political process in the troubled State is revived.
The CPI has in the past had said that JKLF leaders like Yasin Malik and. Shabir Shah should be allowed to visit Pakistan if they so desire. And in its recent Central Committee meeting the CPI(M) demanded maximum autonomy, within the framework of the Indian Constitution, to the Kashmiris to protect their identity and for their socioeconomic development.
The Marxist party added that a political package including all this was a prerequisite for Jammu and Kashmir before announcement of Assembly elections there.
The Kashmir issue was specifically discussed at the meeting and both Left parties agreed that unless a package, including implementation of the Indira Abdullah agreement of 1976 was announced, the effective elections could be held in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Government must categorically assure the people of Kashmir that the accord would be implemented, the Left leaders said.
The CPI(M) and CPI also said the Center must ensure special resource allocation to overcome the existing backwardness in Jammu & Kashmir. The Center must also rehabilitate those who were forced to migrate from the Valley in recent times.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 3, 1995
