Srinagar, Dec 01 (KNS): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted sharply over the reports about Governor administration fiddling with the existing state subject laws and amendment made in Jammu & Kashmir Protection of Human Rights Act, and urged it not to act beyond its mandate.
The Governor administration has cleared a proposal that has turned the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) incapable of investigating any complaint of human rights violation submitted one year after the incident.
Furthermore, the government is planning a major change in the existing laws for acquiring permanent resident certificate in Jammu and Kashmir.
Cautioning the Governor against the attempts to reinvent everything in Jammu and Kashmir, former Minister and PDP General Secretary Abdul Haq Khan on Saturday said that Governor rule is a transitory arrangement and he (Satya Pal Malik) should avoid disrupting the existing laws and procedures in the state. “Governor’s administration has already taken several steps which have caused suspicion in the minds of people. Now going into the most crucial and important territory of PRC and human rights could further disturb the situation on the ground. It is well advised to the Governor administration not to fiddle with existing systems and procedures,” Khan said in a statement.
He added that the PRC is a sensitive issue and there have been complaints in the past also that some non-state subjects have acquired the certificates in spite of the foolproof arrangements.
The PDP leader said that the system of granting the PRC is an established practice and should not be diluted at any cost. “This is a matter of the identity of the state and any attempt to relax it will meet with resistance. It can open a Pandora box if the procedure is relaxed in any way. The system in vogue is the outcome of generation’s wisdom and departmental procedures. Same cannot be undone or fiddled with at whims of somebody,” Khan said, adding that it is surprising that some people in the administration are out to damage the credibility of Governor’s administration and to further aggravate the sense of alienation among the people.
Khan said further: “These decisions seen along with the earlier downgrade of JK Bank as a PSU indicates that the present administration is out to undo the existing systems in a classic display of trying to fix what is not broken.”
The PDP leader also expressed serious concern over the latest government decision according to which State Human Rights Commission cannot entertain complaints older than a year. Khan said that the people of Jammu Kashmir have been worst victims of human rights violations and there is no time frame for the problems they have faced. He added that bringing the amendment in the state Human rights Act just because the provision exists in national law is unacceptable and unnatural. “The law should be kept as it is and such decisions should be left to the elected governments of the state. SHRC is the sole institution which in spite of its restrictions has been able to at least listen to the problems of the people and take them to the public knowledge even if redressal is not available in all cases,” said Abdul Haq Khan. (KNS)