Doval says J&K statute not needed
New Delhi, Sept. 5: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday hit back at National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval for terming a separate constitution for Jammu and Kashmir as an “abberation” and said those who believe in accession of the state to the Union of India should also have faith in the instrument of accession.
“Anyone who believes and endorses the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India should also have faith in the clause 8 of the Instrument of Accession which provides for internal sovereignty of the state,” PDP chief spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir said in a statement.
Mr Doval had said, “Having a separate constitution for Jammu and Kashmir was probably an “aberration”, as he stressed that sovereignty can never be compromised.
His remarks on Kashmir come at a time the Supreme Court is hearing pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A of the Constitution, which provides special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking at the launch of a book on Vallabhbhai Patel, Doval also paid glowing tributes to the first home minister of India, saying he had made significant contributions in laying a strong foundation of the country. Mr Doval said sovereignty “cannot be a diluted and ill-defined”, and added that when the “British left, probably they did not want to leave India as a strong sovereign state.”
In this context, he said Patel could see through the plan of the British to sow seeds of disintegration in the country. “His contribution is not about the merger of the states, it is only a means to an end. The thing was that to make a sovereign state in which there was the sovereignty of the people was established in the Constitution, which is applicable to the whole of it.