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J&K autonomy panel report suggests return to pre-1953 status

A committee set up to consider the grant of greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir has recommended a return to the state's "pre-1953 status".

The eight-member committee chaired by Works Minister Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Shah had presented its report in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday.

Copies of the report were distributed to members of the legislative assembly and the press today.

The report blames "some 40 years of unconstitutional practices" for having created a mess in the relations between the state and the Union of India.

The best course for the President would be to repeal all orders that are not in conformity with the Constitution (application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1950, and the terms of the Delhi Agreement of 1952," it says.

Referring to the misuse of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, the report says it has acquired "a dangerously ambiguous aspect''. Designed to protect the state's autonomy, it has been used systematically to destroy that very autonomy.

It says an understanding is necessary between the Union and the state that Article 370 or any other provision of the Indian Constitution can no longer be used to apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir laws beyond the ones extended under the 1950 order and the Delhi Agreement, 1952.

"This could be embodied in a new article that specifies the agreement as part of the unamendable basic structure of the Indian Constitution," it suggests.

UNI

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