PDP won't meet Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission, alleges move favours 'a particular party'

'Exercise pre-planned in favour of a particular party'

Terming the delimitation exercise as “preplanned” move in favour of a particular party and “aimed to further hurt the interests of people” of Jammu and Kashmir, regional People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday announced it will not meet the visiting Delimitation Commission members.

“On August 5, 2019, the constitutional and democratic values of our country were trampled upon with the people of Jammu & Kashmir being robbed of their legitimate constitutional and democratic rights by means of abrogation of Article 370 and 35 (A) illegally and unconstitutionally,” PDP General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone said in a letter to Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakesh Desai, head of the Commission.

"The day also saw the people of J&K being humiliated and demeaned by downgrading and bifurcation of an almost 200-year-old state, an act, with no precedence in independent India," the letter, reads.

While challenging the legality of the Commission, the PDP questioned, "the Reorganization Act being a product of the same process, we are of the considered opinion that the Commission lacks constitutional and legal mandate in the first place and its very existence and objectives have left every ordinary resident of J&K with many questions."

"There are apprehensions that the delimitation exercise is part of the overall process of political disempowerment of the people of J&K that the government of India has embarked on," it alleged.