Send all-party delegation to Kashmir, DMK urges Centre

The ‘all-party’ meeting held by the DMK on Saturday urged the Centre to send a team of leaders of political parties that have representation in Parliament to Kashmir to elicit the opinion of the locals and explain the ground realities to the people of the country. DMK president M.K. Stalin made a strong case for the release of Kashmiri leaders placed under house arrest. “The Army should be withdrawn without causing any problem to the security of the nation. The government should take steps to restore normalcy and communication facilities,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said the all-party meeting would closely follow the developments and meet again to decide the future course of action. The resolution urged the Centre to put on hold the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act till a government elected by the people assumed power to know the opinion of the people. “The government took a decision without taking into consideration the views of any political party in Jammu and Kashmir and the local people. It treated the Governor as the people’s representative. The repercussions of this will be severe,” the resolution warned.
The meeting said in one of the world's biggest democracy like India, people would not allow the Constitution and its objectives to be undermined by the ruling party. Pointing out that the government had gone against the provision of Article 370 (3) that the recommendation of the Assembly was necessary, the meeting said what had happened to J&K could happen to any State.
Speeches recalled
“The Centre also has not respected the Supreme Court order that Article 370 was permanent,” the meeting said, recalling speeches of political leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel in favour of retaining Article 370. The AIADMK was not invited for the meeting. Besides the allies of the DMK, MJK leader Thamimun Ansari, who was elected on the ‘two leaves’ symbol of the AIADMK, participated in the meeting.

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