Art 370 provides for temporary provisions for J&K: Govt

The Constitution has "no mention" of 'special status to Jammu and Kashmir' and Article 370 provides for "temporary provisions" with respect to it, government today said while making it clear that the present dispensation cannot tamper with it because of lack of numbers.

Making this statement in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home H P Chaudhary said in a written reply that in view of this, the question of scrapping the "special status" of Jammu and Kashmir "does not arise".

Replying to supplementaries, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said dilution or abrogation of the Article needs amendment to the Constitution and "we (NDA government) do not have numbers in the House".

He said government will take into consideration the historical perspective if any decision is taken with regard to Article 370.

He was responding a suggestion by Karan Singh, senior Congress leader from the state, that the government should take extreme caution if it wants to have a re-look at the Article 370.

When asked about the profits and loss of the Article to the state and country as a whole, Rijiju said he would not like to discuss it.