SC allows Azad to visit Kashmir; CPM leader can go home

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Congress leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to travel to Kashmir but barred him from holding any political rally there. The court also allowed CPI(M) leader Mohd Yousuf Tarigami, who is currently in Delhi, to go back to Srinagar as and when he feels that his health condition would enable him to do so.

NEWDELHI: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Monday allowed Congress leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, to travel to four districts in the region but barred him from holding any rallies or giving political speeches.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, also allowed Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who was admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in New Delhi, to return to Srinagar.

The order on Azad came after his advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi assured the court that the Congress leader “will not do any rally or indulge in any political activity when in Kashmir”.

Azad recently approached the top court seeking permission to travel to Kashmir and raised concerns about the condition of common people. Azad was stopped from visiting Kashmir and sent back from Srinagar Airport three times in the past two months.

“We permit the petitioner to go to Srinagar and visit the following districts — Srinagar, Ananatnag, Baramulla and Jammu — subject to restrictions, if any. The visit will solely be concerned with making an assessment of the impact of the present situation on the life of daily wage earners if any,” the court order said.

Azad thanked the SC. “My petition was different from other pleas. There was no politics in it... I had raised a humanitarian issue, which was important,” Azad told reporters.

The court said if Tarigami had any grievance about his movement in Srinagar, he would be free to approach the jurisdictional high court or the SC. “If he intends to move around any part of Srinagar, where there are restrictions or prohibitions to move, he will be free to do so subject to requisite permission from district authorities,” court added.

Tarigami, who was under detention at his home in Srinagar, was shifted to AIIMS following an SC order on September 5.He was discharged from AIIMS recently and continued to stay at the J&K Guest House in Delhi.