Srinagar: The lack of business rules in delineating the powers of the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister is the key ‘obstruction’ in the functioning of the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, a top National Conference (NC) leader said on Thursday.
Showkat Ahmad Mir, NC's Kashmir president, told ETV Bharat that the government’s panel of ministers has readied business rules and will be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs soon to put an end to the impasse.
“The present obstruction is business rules and once that is cleared everything will be okay,” he said in response to a query on the lack of official order on the cabinet panel of three ministers on reviewing the reservation policy.
“It (the business rules) will clear (the confusion) and determine the domain of Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor,” he said at the graveyard of the party’s founder late Sheikh Abdullah in Srinagar. “Once statehood is restored, this all will die of its own and we will have the old days as we were enjoying a strong state of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The lack of clarity over the powers of the elected government stalled the proposals including restoring the holiday on the birth anniversary of the NC’s founder and erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
Popularly known as Sher-e-Kashmir, December 5 marked the 119 birth anniversary of NC founder and erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister and Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The LG administration had cancelled several holidays including Sheikh’s from the list of holidays in 2020.
But the Omar Abdullah-led government had submitted the proposal of reinstating the holiday to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha last month but it could not get through so far, said an official.
Nasir Aslam Wani, who is the Advisor to Abdullah conceded the Council of Ministers formally submitted the proposal on it, hoping it will be restored from next year.
The NC's provincial president Mir said that they will not only restore the holiday on the Sheikh’s birth anniversary but will also reinstate the holiday on the ‘martyrs day’ commemorated in the memory of 22 people killed in the uprising against the Dogra monarch on July 13, 1931.
“Unfortunately, the LG dispensation cancelled two important holidays on the birthday of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and Martyrs Day. We have promised to restore them in our but no decision has been taken yet because of a lack of clarity over business rules about the powers of LG and Lieutenant Governor. We will declare two important days as holidays,” Mir added.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah alongside his father and NC president Farooq Abdullah offered their prayers at the mausoleum to pay tributes to Sheikh Abdullah on the banks of Dal Lake. The party's legislators and people including women, men and youth from both Kashmir as well as Jammu region on the banks of Dal Lake gathered early morning amid a chill to pay their tributes. Sheikh Abdullah passed away in 1983.
Highlighting the contributions of the late Sheikh, several party leaders said the popularity of Jammu and Kashmir’s towering leader still exists. "People from all corners are here. It is the legacy of the Sheikh which pulls everybody toward him. His secularism and everything that he has taught us, we are proud to be part of this legacy," said additional spokesperson Shriya Handoo.
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