By A Representative
More than 60 signatories -- including Prof Rabinder Singh, Air vice marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, cardiologist Dr Upendra Kaul, "Kashmir Times" executive editor Anuradha Bhasin, and theatre and film artist MK Raina -- have in a petition said that Governments the of India has moved to abrogate Article 370 through "coercive means".
Calling the abrogation unconstitutional and in violation of the historical promises made to the peoples’ of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) by the Union of India, the signatories, who are mostly Kashmiri Pandits, Dogras and Sikhs, and consist of academics, students, artistes, authors, journalists, activists and professionals, said, J&K chose to accede "because of the secular and democratic character of the Indian dominion."
"The state of J&K was the only princely state which negotiated the terms of its accession during the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949, consequent to which the Article 370 came into existence without any opposition", they added.
The signatories said, "The clandestine manner in which the Government of India proceeded in the matter, in complete exclusion of the opinion and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the J&K amounts to an authoritarian and undemocratic rejection of all norms of democracy." It called for "an immediate lifting of the state of siege on J&K" and "immediate revocation of communication gag on the people of J&K".
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