Asserting that the hearing of Article 35-A cases in the Supreme Court (SC) has heightened tension in the valley, Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan said any fiddling with the Article could trigger a catastrophe in the entire South Asian region and not only in Kashmir.
Khan, who also heads the Kashmir Traders and Federation (KTMF), said revocation of Article 35-A will mean that people of all the three regions will lose their share of resources in the state, including jobs and land. “People of this state will end up like Palestinians whose land will be taken away by outsiders. We all will lose our identities. Collective and individual,” he alleged.
“When New Delhi should have been serious to take measures to improve situation through initiation of efforts for final settlement Kashmir in accordance with the aspirations of the people of the state, some hidden forces are hell bent on keeping Kashmir on the boil through such sinister petitions, while the people are being pushed towards a decisive battle,” Khan said.
Khan said timing of cases to weaken special status of J&K look conspiring. “Instead of saying when to have a hearing on such a sensitive case, we appeal the SC to dismiss the petition so that the wild fears in the minds of already victimised people of Jammu and Kashmir end once and for all,” he said.
He maintained that the Kashmir Inc was not only speaking on behalf of the business community of the Valley alone but was making public the popular sentiment of the people of state in general. “Like other Kashmiris we have always scarified for the cause of Kashmir and we won’t mind to sacrifice everything if our existence is at stake,” he said.
The KEA chairman alleged that it was the faulty policies of the government which force the business community to speak on such issues when actually the businessmen should have been provided with a conducive environment to work.
Supporting the stand of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) and the Kashmir’s civil society on the issue, the Kashmir Inc said it was a collective responsibility of every sane individual to be extra cautious.(UNI)
