MUZAFFARABAD: Angry protesters took to the streets in the capital and elsewhere in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday to condemn India’s move to abolish the special status of the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, amid calls that Pakistan should throw off shackles of mutual accords with India and refer the case to the United Nations afresh.

“This is a blessing in disguise. An opportunity gifted by Almighty Allah to Pakistan and Kashmiris which must be availed by presenting our just case on Kashmir before the comity of nations with complete care, wisdom and sagacity,” said Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani, a former acting chief justice of the AJK Supreme Court.

“This task should be given to the practitioners of international laws, rules of procedure of global organisations and experts of the political and constitutional history of Kashmir, India and Pakistan and not to bureaucrats and diplomats, who should instead act as their helpers,” he said.

Mr Gillani warned: “Remember, there is no room for any mistake this time round.”

Clarifying a misconception, the noted jurist pointed out that India had not abrogated Article 370 in entirety, but it had craftily omitted or amended its provisions to “accomplish the merger of the disputed state into the Indian union”.

Through the presidential order, the government of India had repealed all earlier orders issued under Article 370 right from 1954, which also includes Article 35-A, Mr Gillani said.

“One tricky part of the presidential order is that the provisions of the Indian Constitution along with all the amendments to date shall apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which implies that the occupied Kashmir’s own Constitution stands abrogated.

“Another tricky part is the substitution of the word ‘constituent assembly’ of occupied Kashmir, as referred to in Article 370, by ‘legislative assembly’, which implies that in case Article 370 is to be repealed it will no more require the consent of the constituent assembly,” he added.

Mr Gillani said: “From today onwards, India is once again an occupier of Kashmir, and Pakistan should seek a session of the UN Security Council on the very grounds as well as heavy troop buildup and the use of cluster bombs on innocent civilians by India.”

Dr Syed Nazir Gillani, the London-based president of the Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights, pointed out that the notification declaring Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir as two separate Indian union territories had no merit in the eyes of law.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2019