Bill to scrap IOK's special status tabled in Lok Sabha after approval from Rajya Sabha
Converting Ladakh to union territory has been a long standing demand, said Amit Shah.
NEW DELHI (Dunya News) – Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday has presented bill to revoke special status of occupied Kashmir and to bifurcate it into two union territories in Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament) following approval from Rajya Sabha (upper house of the parliament).
Addressing the session, Amit Shah said this bill and resolution will ensure that the occupied Kashmir will remain with India forever. Converting Ladakh to union territory has been a long standing demand, he added.
He also informed the House about president’s statutory resolutions repealing Article 370 of the Constitution and said that occupied Kashmir is an integral part of India.There cannot be any legal or constitutional dispute about this, he asserted.
Meanwhile, brouhaha was erupted as opposition members exchanged barbs with Amit Shah over abolishing Kashmir’s status, demanding to withdraw the decision as it is against the Shimla pact.
Indian govt ends occupied Kashmir s special status
Earlier, while addressing the session in Rajya Sabah, Amit Shah had announced to end special status of the Kashmir while scrapping articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution.
Shah said, “Kashmir will no longer be a state. It will be divided into two union territories – Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and Ladakh, which will be without a legislature."
He also told that the valley would be re-organized geographically.”
The revocation of the articles has allowed other non-Muslim Indian citizens to buy land in the valley while a separate legislative assembly will be established there for its own laws.
What are Articles 370, 35A
Article 370 gives special autonomous status to the Kashmir which means that no one from other state will be allowed to buy land or become permanent citizen of the valley.
Whereas Article 35A, of the Indian Constitution 1954, provides special rights and privileges to the citizens of occupied Kashmir.
The laws had also reserved state government jobs for natives, as well as college places, in an effort to keep the state from being overrun by people from the rest of India.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) obtained a large parliamentary majority in recent elections and vowed to fulfill a long-held promise to scrap the laws.
