J&K Bureaucrats Oppose Statehood Resolution In Rare Letter To Assembly Speaker

Hours before the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly started discussion on the resolution for restoration of statehood, the Speaker of the Assembly received an unusual missive from top bureaucrats of J&K informing him that the issue is sub judice and, therefore, the resolution cannot be taken up.

J&K Chief Secretary Atal Duloo and the Law Secretary Achal Sethi have sent separate letters to the Assembly Secretariat calling for disallowing the resolution, three days after it was moved by chief minister Omar Abdullah and admitted by the House.

Abdul Rahim Rather, Speaker of the state Assembly told NDTV that there is no precedent of such interference in the functioning of the Assembly by the bureaucracy. He said that sending a letter to the Assembly secretariat, that too without the approval of the minister concerned was a clear attempt to undermine the House.

"I don't think there is any precedent, bureaucracy writing to the Assembly secretariat to scuttle the business of the house. That too without the approval of minister concerned," he said.

Omar Abdullah, who also holds the portfolio of Law Minister, says that he had no information about the letter sent by the bureaucrats before he was informed by the Assembly secretariat. He said that such a letter is a direct consequence of Jammu and Kashmir not having full statehood.

Speaking on the statehood resolution before it was passed by the Assembly amid walkout by the BJP, Abdullah said the unapproved letters clearly show someone else is controling the bureaucracy.

"Speaker sir, I'm the Law Minister and also Chief Minister but I have no knowledge of my bureaucracy sending an opinion to you on my resolution. I do not know on whose instructions it was sent,'' said Abdullah.

The chief minister noted that after Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its statehood and special status, people have been "humiliated" and demanding restoration of statehood is a matter of right. ''

"Can this happen in any state, where the chief minister moves a resolution and its own bureaucracy acts against it? This can happen only in a Union Territory. And this itself shows the reality of the situation,'' Abdullah said.