Junaid Shah
Srinagar : National Conference Lok Sabha members are all set to raise the Gupkar Declaration in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
The monsoon session of Parliament, which will be the first since the coronavirus lockdown was declared in March, will run from September 14 to October 1.
At least six major political parties recently reiterated the ‘Gupkar Declaration’ of August 4 of last year in launching what they called struggle for the restoration of the special status of J&K.
National Conference Member Parliament Justice (Retired) Hasnian Masoodi said they have a consistent stand that the August 5 decision was “unconstitutional”.
“We recently reiterated the Gupkar Declaration of August 4. The National Conference has three MPs and we will raise the abrogation of Article 370 and Gupkar Declaration in the Parliament,” Masoodi told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
Masoodi said the August 5 decision amounted to breach of trust and commitments made with people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“This was neither in the interest of the country nor for Jammu and Kashmir. We will tell the Parliament to undo the August 5 decision. Although we will be given two or three minutes in the Parliament but we will make sure to make our statement clear. We will use all platforms like Parliament, hold interactions with political parties and civil society members and do legal battles as well,” he added.
Mainstream political parties of Kashmir, including the National Conference, PDP, Congress and People’s Conference, on last Saturday issued a joint statement reiterating their commitment to strive for restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, and said all their other political activities would be subservient to that.
The statement was signed by NC president Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti who remains under detention, People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone, state Congress chief G A Mir, CPM leader M Y Tarigami and Muzaffar Shah of the J&K Awami National Conference — the signatories also of the Gupkar Declaration of August 5, 2019, the day the special status of J&K was scrapped. Of the signatories then of a resolution to fight unitedly for the special status, only Shah Faesal, who announced recently that he was quitting politics, was not part of Saturday’s statement.
The leaders said, “We are committed to strive for restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, the constitution of J&K and restoration of the state, and any division of the state is unacceptable to us. We unanimously reiterate that there can be nothing about us without us.”
Saying that there was “unanimity amongst us that collective institution is the effective way” to fight for rights of the people of J&K, they said, “We want to assure the people that all our political activities will be subservient to the sacred goal of reverting to the status of J&K as it existed on 4th August 2019.”
On August 4, 2019, the mainstream political leaders had met at Farooq Abdullah’s residence on Gupkar Road in Srinagar and unanimously resolved to stay “united in their resolve to protect and defend identity, autonomy and special status of J&K against all attacks and onslaughts whatsoever”.(KINS)
