Why there are different laws for J&K, Ladakh, asks Omar
Former chief minister and vice- president of the National Conference Omar Abdullah on Thursday slammed the BJP government for having different set of laws for the two union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The BJP government, on August 5, 2019 had revoked Articles 370 and 35A and had carved two UTs, Ladakh without legislature and J&K with legislature, out of the vast princely state.
Addressing a rally in Ramban, Omar said, “On August 5, 2019 two UTs were created, J& K and Ladakh. Tell me why there are different laws for two UTs when it comes to land, jobs, scholarships and state subjects?”
“We were told that the purpose of revoking Article 370 was to have one nation, one constitution. Then why are there two separate systems in two UTs made out of one state. Shouldn’t our children have the same rights as those of Ladakh?”
“If jobs under state subjects are reserved and lands are protected for people of Leh and Kargil under the state subject law, if scholarships and voting rights are safeguarded according to the old Article 370 state subject laws then why have they been denied to us?” he asked.
“We are not demanding anything other than equal treatment to the two UTs made on August 5, 2019,” he said, adding, “When we talk of the constitution and fighting for Article 370 in court, the BJP calls us Pakistani. In fact, for them, every Muslim in J&K is a Pakistani.”
He said he doesn’t know what the Muslims of J&K have to do to prove to the BJP that they are not with Pakistan.
“Since 1947, we are with India and have made sacrifices to maintain our relations. We only demand that the promises made to J&K and the given constitutional shape under Article 370 should be protected,” he said.
Omar regretted that those who try to talk about the constitution vis-à-vis arbitrary revocation of Article 370 are called “anti-nationals”.
He talked of how his father Farooq Abdullah in 1987 had offered to step back from politics, urging the Kashmiri youth not to bring guns into Kashmir. Seeking support of people at the next elections, Omar promised to reverse the “blunders committed by the BJP government”.