Jammu & Kashmir Apni Party president Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday took a strong exception to the central government order defining new domicile law for J&K.
In a statement issued, Bukhari demanded the order be put inabeyance till the COVID-19 pandemic is over. “It is most unfortunate that suchan important order has been issued at a time when the whole country is battlingfor its survival and is under strict lockdown to stem spread of deadlycoronavirus. While JKAP had been vehemently demanding domicile rights on landand jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the order issued by the uniongovernment reflects a casual exercise carried out at bureaucratic level withouttaking aspirations and expectations of people into consideration,” Bukharisaid.
He demanded that the order be put in abeyance till thecountry is out of dangers arising out of COVID19. “This order in its entiretyis a casual attempt, cosmetic in nature, to hoodwink the people of Jammu andKashmir who genuinely believed that post October 31, 2019 their rights andprivileges in the matter of employment and other rights would remain as it hadbeen,” Bukhari said.
He said that being a government issued order and not a lawmade by the Parliament, the new gazette notification regarding domicile rulefor J&K is not immune to any judicial review. “The order issued is totallyunacceptable to JKAP. In the matter of employment – non Gazetted, Gazettedposts in the service – and admissions to professional colleges, a tangiblelegal and constitutional mechanism was supposed to be put in place to safeguardand protect these privileges of the people of Jammu and Kashmir who had beenthe permanent residents of J&K,” Bukhari said.
Commenting on various sections of the order, the JKAPpresident demanded threadbare discussions with all stake holders of Jammu andKashmir to be held at an appropriate time to remove these anomalies.