J&K to be bifurcated into two UTS today Storm brews over ‘broker’ Madi Sharma’s role in trip
J&K will have an elected legislative assembly and a CM; Ladakh will be governed by an L-G We don’t know how things will pan out...
Hopefully the UT status will ease the restrictions and life will be normal.
NAZIR SALMAN, Trader of shawls
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir braced on Wednesday for an uncertain transition from full statehood to two truncated union territories with many local Muslim residents and activists underlining the region’s deep resentment but some others expressing hope that decentralised power structures will stanch bloodshed in the violence-hit region.
In the capital Srinagar, only a trickle of cars was out on the otherwise deserted roads with shops shuttered on either side and human blockades in the old part of the city, where violent protests had broken out a day before against the visit by a group of European lawmakers. Among the political parties, only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared hopeful of the transition while the Valley’s mainstream politicians termed the transition a betrayal of the constitutional promise. Fear loomed large about a spurt in violence targeted at outsiders — which has killed 11 people in two weeks — and local residents said they were preparing for a long spell of unrest. “We don’t know when the violence will stop,” said Rafiq Ahmed, a local resident.
New lieutenant governor for J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu, will be sworn in by chief justice of the Srinagar high court Gita Mittal in a ceremony around 12.30pm at the Raj Bhavan. Mittal will fly to Leh, where she will swear in the new L-G of Ladakh, RK Mathur. J&K will have an elected legislative assembly and a chief minister while Ladakh will be governed by the L-G and have two hill development councils.
For many mainstream political leaders, the bifurcation and the scrapping of special status was an indication of the erosion of the region’s autonomy and identity. “The unilateral way in which the Centre did this was a betrayal of constitutional provisions. Our stand on the transition to UT status is the same,” said Hasnain Masoodi, Anantnag MP and National Conference leader.
The BJP dismissed these concerns. Former MLC Surender Ambardar said he would welcome the bifurcation as the region’s “constitutional ambiguity” was over. “The ruse of Article 370 had deprived 80% of the population of their dues,” he said.
“This article was based on the same premise as the two nation theory that led to partition. A deliberate ambiguity was created between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India,” he added.
The mood on a misty day in Srinagar was cautious. “We don’t know how things will pan out. As of now we have been struggling to get our business back on track, the kids don’t go to school and life is paralysed. Hopefully the UT status will ease the restrictions and life will be normal,” said Nazir Salman, a trader of shawls. Not everyone was as worried. Zubair, a law student who only gave his first name, said he hoped issues of development, corruption and large-scale unemployment would be addressed. “There are many other issues that remained unaddressed. For instance the absence of avenues for stating new business, thanks to the large-scale corruption.”
Activists suggested that the move was a symbolic loss that resonated with many people but argued that the “unilateral” nullification of Article 370 and the alleged human rights excesses in the region were of far greater concern to local populations. “Statehood was more or less a facade that was often used to hide violations, and many of our chief ministers had very little actual power...,” said Khurram Parvez, founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition for Civil Society.
A political watcher, not willing to be named, said: “There is no denying the fact that most people want statehood to be restored and want the central government to fulfil this assurance. If that does not happen within a limited time span, people will feel that New Delhi has betrayed its promise.”
Instead of one governor for the entire state, J&K and Ladakh will now have two lieutenant governors — Girish Chandra Murmu and Radha Krishna Mathur
The model of governance will be similar to Puducherry, which has an elected assembly and chief ministers. The model for Ladakh will be akin to Andaman and Nicobar that is directly governed by an L-G.
The J&K cadre of administrative officers will likely end. The current crop of officers will continue functioning but all new recruitments shall be make from the AGMUT cadre
A three-member committee, led by former defence secretary Sanjay Mitra, is looking into the distribution of assets between the two new UTS. The panel has an initial term of six months, which may be extended.
All state government employees were given the choice of joining the administration of either UTS.
The Upper House, the legislative council, will be abolished
The J&K assembly will be reconstituted after a delimitation of seats. The exercise shall be overseen by a commission headed by the Election Commission of India.
The delimitation exercise may re-draw the boundaries of some constituencies. The number of seats will rise from 87 to 107. 24 seats will be left vacant in the assembly to represent the areas occupied by Pakistan.
Seats will be reserved for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Ladakh will have no elected assembly but two hill councils under the L-G: The Ladakh hill development council and the Kargil hill development council
The number of ministers shall be capped at 10. Perks to former chief ministers — house, car, high security — may be trimmed
According to the J&K Reorganisation Act, the CM will have to communicate to the L-G all decisions of the council of ministers, and furnish information related to the administration and proposals for legislation
New 108 laws will now be applicable in the UTS, the latest being the amended Motor Vehicles Act that hiked penalties for traffic offences
153 old state laws will be repealed within one year
The Ranbir Penal Code shall cease to exist, now only the IPC will be applicable
All government buildings shall stop flying the state flag and now only display the Tricolour. Earlier, most buildings – including the state secretariat in Srinagar – displayed both flags
10 statutory bodies, including the state human rights commission and information commission, will be dissolved
Bodies such as the SC commission, ST commission and minority commission will be set up in the UTS
The Srinagar high court will act as the common high court for both UTS
A number of independent bodies, such as the Waqf board, will now come under the central government
NEWDELHI: A businesswoman who led a delegation of European lawmakers to assess the ground situation in Kashmir remained a subject of much conjecture even as the visit concluded on Wednesday, with the Opposition seeking clarity from the government on how the international public relations exercise was conducted.
According to the self-styled sociopreneur Madi Sharma’s own website, Madi stands for “Make a Difference Ideas”. Inventive acronyms aside, the question that continued to hog social media discourse through Wednesday was: Just who is Madi Sharma? The woman was described variously as a business broker, NGO head, gender rights advocate, social thinker, etc.
Writing about herself on the website, Sharma states that “I am a public speaker internationally, particularly in the field of entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship, diversity; gender balance and my passion for corporate social responsibility CSR”.
The website states that she is an entrepreneur who founded the Madi Group, which calls itself a group of international private sector and social enterprises, notfor-profit companies and NGOS. The group, it says, includes a business brokerage company “which links global corporate companies, business to business and governments through Introsocial ductions, Intelligence and Innovation”. Sharma also heads WESTT (Women’s Eco-nomic and Social Think Tank), aimed at “working on concrete solutions for issues facing the development and progress of women in international communities”.
WESTT conducted the lawmakers’ tour in coordination with an organisation called the International Institute for Nonaligned Studies (IINS). Some of the social media accounts of the website on Google and Twitter showed bogus or non-existent accounts. When contacted by Hindustan Times, IINS, headquartered in New Delhi, said the office was shut for the week.
The Opposition said the visit amounted to internationalising the Kashmir issue, which went against India’s consistent position that it is an internal matter, simultaneously calling into question Sharma’s role in the event.
“Will the Prime Minister tell us who is Madi Sharma?” the Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. “What is the connection of the BJP to Women’s Economic and
Think Tank (WESTT) as also to the International Institute for Non-aligned Studies [IINS]?”
At a press conference, Surjewala questioned why and in what capacity had Sharma fixed an appointment with the Prime Minister for the delegation of European members of Parliament.
“...why is the government of India facilitating it? Where is the money to finance the entire visit coming from? Why has the MEA [ministry of external affairs] been completely sidelined?” he asked.
Chris Davies, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the UK , on Tuesday said WESTT invited him to meet Modi on Monday and to visit J&K before the invitation was allegedly withdrawn after he insisted on moving freely during the trip.
A chain of email communications HT has accessed showed that Sharma, an entrepreneur and the WESTT chief, approached Davies on October 7 to join the delegation for a threeday visit to J&K. She wrote that the Delhi-based IINS would bear the expenses of the trip.
The Union government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declined to comment on these allegations. A BJP spokesperson said it was up to the ministry of external affairs to react as it had nothing to do with the party but was an issue involving the government. A senior member of the BJP’S foreign cell, who asked not to be named, said he was unaware of Sharma’s identity.