For the dustbin of history | The Indian Express

For the dustbin of history | The Indian Express

Written by Mahesh Jethmalani |Updated: April 6, 2019 7:06:40 am

For the dustbin of history

Article 35A is manifestly unconstitutional. It is detrimental to the integration of the Kashmiri people with the rest of India. Sixty-five years after its enactment, the time is ripe to consign the Article to the dustbins of history.

Article 35A is neither an affirmation of the historical entitlement of the Kashmiri people nor an integral aspect of the princely state of J&K’s accession to India, as its champions proclaim.

Contrary to the misconceived arguments of the dynasts in the People’s Democratic Party and National Conference, predicated no doubt on the legal sophistry of their motivated minions, Article 35A is not cast in stone. In truth, it is neither an affirmation of the historical entitlement of the Kashmiri people nor an integral aspect of the princely state of J&K’s accession to India, as its champions proclaim. Moreover, it is manifestly unconstitutional.