Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Sep 25
Education Minister Sakina Itoo on Friday criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators for disrupting Assembly proceedings over a resolution seeking restoration of full statehood.
Itoo said opposition members should have used the Assembly to raise public issues and seek responses from the government.
She said issues affecting people in the Pir Panjal region and elsewhere could have been taken up during the session.
The minister said the statehood resolution had already been considered by the government and Cabinet before being brought before the Assembly.
Itoo said the government had been waiting for the Centre to fulfil its stated commitment on statehood.
She also rejected the argument that discussion in the Assembly should be limited to statehood and exclude Article 370.
“We had Article 370. We have the right,” she said, adding that the government would also have to discuss laws and rights that existed in Jammu and Kashmir before 2019.
The remarks came after BJP members protested the resolution’s reference to the June 2000 Autonomy Resolution.
BJP leaders have said they are willing to debate restoration of statehood but oppose discussion of Article 370 and the 2000 autonomy measure.
