LJP in favour of Art 370`s revocation

Jammu: The state unit of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) today demanded the NDA government to immediately initiate steps to revoke Article 370 of the constitution and dubbed Omar Abdullah`s remarks on the issue as "an act of sedition and treason".

"We demand immediate initiation of steps to revoke Article 370 of the Indian constitution which grants special status to J&K," LJP`s state unit chief Sham Lal Gupta said. Terming remarks made by Omar that either J&K won`t be part of India or Article 370 that grants special status to the state will still exist as `an act of sedition and treason`, Gupta said: "By saying so, Omar has violated the Indian constitution as well as the J&K constitution, which categorically states that J&K is an integral part of India." "The Article was kept as a temporary provision in the constitution, to be eroded gradually and ultimately die its own death," the LJP leader said. The statement has come a day after Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said that the Narendra Modi government was open to debate on merits and demerits of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir and would make efforts to "convince the unconvinced" by holding contact programmes in the state. Meanwhile, Panun Kashmir, an organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, also said that it was in favour of abrogating Article 370 in J&K. "It is ridiculous that the Chief Minister of the J&K state Omar Abdullah should threaten to secede in case Article 370 is abrogated. "Panun Kashmir would like the government to initiate the process for its abrogation at the earliest," the outfit`s president Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo said here. Welcoming the statement by Singh, Chrungoo said, "the statement is well timed and speaks volumes about the intentions of the new government about the mandated agenda on Jammu and Kashmir."