A slew of decisions taken by the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday sparked sharp reactions from Jammu and Kashmir’s regional parties, which suspected that these moves were “motivated”.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former State Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan said his party warned the Governor’s administration against “fiddling with the existing State subject laws”.
He described the administration’s move to amend rules of Jammu & Kashmir Protection of Human Rights Act — by virtue of which the State Human Rights Commission will be unable to investigate any complaint of human rights violation submitted one year after the incident — “an act beyond its mandate”.
“The Governor’s rule is a transitory arrangement and Governor Malik should avoid disrupting the existing laws and procedures. People here have been worst victims of human rights violations and there is no time-frame for the problems they have faced,” Mr. Haq said.
Engineer Rashid, who heads the Awami Ittehad Party, said the order issued regarding SHRC functioning “should be immediately revoked”.
“With lack of accountability for men in uniform, the SHRC is still a ray of hope. The Governor’s move is part of a well-crafted strategy to suppress the voice of the masses,” Mr. Rashid said.
The administration’s move to “change and ease” procedures for issuing Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC), a certificate issued to domicile citizens of J&K, has also come under cover of suspicion.
“Mr, Malik is going into the most crucial and important territory of PRC, which could further disturb the situation on the ground. It is well advised to the Governor administration not to fiddle with existing systems and procedures,” said PDP’s Khan.
“The system of granting the PRC is an established practice and should not be diluted at any cost. This is a matter of the identity of the State and any attempt to relax it will meet with resistance. It can open a Pandora box if the procedure is relaxed in any way,” he added.
Under criticism, a government spokesman said the process for issuance of PRCs in J&K “remains unchanged”. “But district development commissioners have been asked only to explain the causes of delay on the complaints alleging unprecedented delay in its issuance,” said the spokesman.
Meanwhile, the National Conference on Saturday staged protests at all district headquarters of the State and sought a rollback of the SAC decision of declaring J&K Bank a public sector undertaking.
“The decision will downgrade and put the prestigious institution at par with any other state public sector undertaking,” said a NC spokesman.
