Restoration of autonomy only possibile solution

Srinagar, May 27: The main opposition party in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC), today said restoration of internal autonomy in the state was the only possible solution to the Kashmir issue.

Internal autonomy is also linked to the accession deed of then head of the state Maharaja Hari Singh and has constitutional sanctity under Article 370, a spokesman for the NC, reacting to setting up five working groups to address different issues, said in a statement here.

He said the deliberative session of the round table has opened a new vista of hopes for resolution of the problems confronting the people of the state.

He said the group looking into the matters related to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is of immense importance and at the same time its agenda is neither Greek nor impracticable.

The spokesman said the working group will lessen its burden by going through the history of the existence of internal autonomy in the state and also evaluating the hazardous results experienced in the state, after abrogation of important clauses of autonomy.

It is equally of immense importance to look into the background of the late Pandit Nehru's desire for settlement of the Kashmir issue, for which he had deputed former Chief Minister the late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to Pakistan. However, the mission could not be concluded due to the death of Pandit Nehru in 1964.

The issue has also its roots in the resolution passed by the state legislature in 2000, which was presented to then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee.

However, the NDA, of which NC was an ally in the government, rejected the resolution.

As far as its reimplementation is concerned, the spokesman urged the working group to go through the state autonomy committee report of the NC, where the powers of the governance have been decentralised to all the three regions of the state.

Concluding the statement, NC spokesman asked the people of the state to remain vigilant at this historical juncture, and not allow political jugglers to exploit the situation for their own selfish ends.

UNI