Panun Kashmir (PK), an organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, on Monday demanded abrogation of the controversial Article 35A that bars people from other states of the country to own property in Jammu and Kashmir.

President of the PK, Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, told mediapersons that the Kashmiri Pandits as the indigenous people of Kashmir are the worst hit by the Article 35A which was introduced in 1954 through a Promulgation of the President of India.

“Since it has been put to the legal scrutiny in the Supreme Court of India, any protest against its hearing is tantamount to pressurising the Apex Court on the issue. Organising strikes and bandhs in this connection cannot determine the legal or constitutional status of the Article in question,” he said.

Moreover, the forces who have been opposing the Constitution of India in the J-K State all along have no reason to be concerned about the existence or abrogation of Article 35A. Their opposition to its abrogation exhibits their “duplicity, double talk and hypocrisy” which they have been carrying on with for the last seven decades and which have paved way for destruction of the social edifice in the valley of Kashmir.

Chrungoo said that Kashmir alone does not represent Jammu and Kashmir state. “The people of Ladakh and Jammu provinces along with the Kashmiri Pandit community have been demanding its abrogation for quite a long time now. Time has come when things in this regard need to be settled once and for all,” Chrungoo said.

The PK also demanded immediate deportation of illegal settlers Muslim Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from J-K as they have become a security threat in the sensitive border state.

Chrungoo said that the Kashmiri Pandit community is unanimously supporting the cause of the Kashmir Temples’ & Shrines Bill and is overwhelmingly looking up to the government and the Governor’s rule in this regard. This is high time that the government took a firm stand regarding this, keeping in view the civilizational aspirations of the Hindus of Kashmir, he said.

“Temples and shrines in Kashmir belong to the whole Hindu society and the current condition of the religious and cultural places in Kashmir are a major concern of the society worldwide. The passage of the Bill will indeed prove to be the biggest confidence-building measure in favour of the displaced Hindu community of Kashmir,” Chrungoo said.

He demanded that the Bill be given the shape of an Ordinance after a due process of debate and discussion on the subject with the stakeholders.