On March 4, the House had witnessed a brief verbal clash between the ruling National Conference (NC) and BJP members after former minister and NC lawmaker Mir Saifullah while raising the issue of poor road connectivity in the border district of Kupwara mentioned about "better infrastructure" available to the people living just across the Line of Control (LoC) in PoJK
JAMMU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed displeasure over the conduct of certain members of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly whose remarks made inside the House “could be construed as glorifying Pakistan”.
After the House, currently in its budget session here, witnessed verbal duals between the Treasury benches and the members of the main opposition party BJP over varied issues, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma has flashed a letter to Speaker Abdur Rahim Rather voicing his party’s concern over remarks made by some of the members during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s address.
“I write to you in my capacity as the Leader of Opposition, deeply concerned about certain remarks being made on the floor of this august House. It has been observed that discussions within the Assembly are increasingly veering towards subjects such as engaging in talks with Pakistan, comparing the development situation in PoJK with that of our Union Territory, and, in some instances, even making remarks that could be construed as glorifying Pakistan.”
Mr. Sharma has claimed that such utterances pose a serious challenge to the sovereignty, integrity, and security of India besides being detrimental to the broader interests of J&K and the rest of the country. He has urged the Speaker to act and ensure discussions that undermine national interests are curtailed. He also appealed him to expunge any words or remarks from the Assembly’s official records if they are “deemed unparliamentary, inflammatory, or prejudicial to national integrity. He alleged that “patriotic statements” made in the interest of the nation are being expunged from the records and certain narratives that “favour or glorify Pakistan” are being allowed to remain on record.
On March 4, the House had witnessed a brief verbal clash between the ruling National Conference (NC) and BJP members after former minister and NC lawmaker Mir Saifullah while raising the issue of poor road connectivity in the border district of Kupwara mentioned about "better infrastructure" available to the people living just across the Line of Control (LoC) in PoJK. Endorsing him, another NC member Nazir Ahmad Khan Gurezi hadsaid, "We must accept this reality".
They were speaking in the House on the difficulties the people of J&K’s border areas are facing mainly in winter after the closure of mountains passes due to snowfalls. As some BJP members strongly objected to their remarks, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tried to pacify them by saying the development seen across the LoC is restricted to those border areas only and facilitated by China and that “beyond those areas nothing has been done”. He had also said that J&K may be lagging in the infrastructure development in the border areas, but it has witnessed remarkable progress and development elsewhere and “everything has been done by us on our own, not by or with the help of China, Britain, the United States or France."
The next day, the House again witnessed noisy scenes and protests by both ruling and opposition members excluding BJP after LoP Mr. Sharma called the Kashmiri martyrs of July 13, 1931 “traitors”. Amid uproar and responding to a demand of the angry members, the Speaker ordered for expunction of Mr. Sharma's “derogatory” remarks.
On Wednesday, former minister and NC lawmaker Ali Muhammad Sagar while participating in the discussion had said the silence of the graveyard should not be construed as peace in J&K. Advocating a dialogue with Pakistan to end “bloodshed” in J&K, he had said, “Whenever Dr Sahab (NC President Farooq Abdullah) highlights the need for talks with Pakistan, the BJP gets irked. There is no doubt that Pakistan is a failed state but you have to take them on board to end the bloodshed in J&K.”
On Thursday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called in question BJP-led government’s recurring avowal of taking PoJK back and said that it could have done it during the Kargil war but failed to seize the “opportunity”. He also asked why the BJP is maintaining a silence on the part of erstwhile state of J&K occupied by China when it talks about retrieving PoJK.
Mr. Abdullah who was winding up the discussion on Motion of Thanks to Lt. Governor’s address while referring to Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar’s statement at the Chatham House think-tank in London that the Kashmir dispute would be solved after the "return of the stolen part of Kashmir which is under illegal Pakistani occupation” asked, “Who has stopped you from doing it…tell me who has stopped? Did we ever say don’t bring it back? We say if it is to be taken back, do it.” He had also said, “But when you look at the map of Jammu and Kashmir, one part of it is with Pakistan and another with China. Why don’t you talk about that part? When you take that part (PoJK) back, do us a favour, bring the other part (which is under Chinese occupation) back also.”
