ShareNEW DELHI: A legal restriction that bars non-residents from owning property in India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir is "constitutionally vulnerable" and discriminatory, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said yesterday. Repeal of the measure adopted in 1954 to safeguard the special status of India's only Muslim-majority state has support from many in the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold an election rally.
"It is used as a political shield by many but it hurt the common citizen of the state the most," Jaitley said in a Facebook post. "It denied them a booming economy, economic activity and jobs." The comments come ahead of general elections to be held in phases starting from April 11, at which Modi is seeking re-election. Campaigning is likely to be dominated by issues of national security, and Kashmir in particular.
India and arch-rival Pakistan, which both claim the Himalayan region in full but rule it in part, have said they carried out airstrikes on enemy territory and downed each other's jets late last month. The clash followed a suicide attack claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-administered Kashmir. Political leaders in Kashmir, where Indian forces are battling an armed insurgency, have warned that any attempts to revise the constitutional provision, known as 35A, would trigger unrest.
No links to suicide blast
In another development, Pakistan said yesterday it had found no links between militants swept up in a recent dragnet and a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war. The announcement by Pakistan's foreign office comes after India provided Pakistani officials with a list of 90 suspected militants and 22 locations of alleged training camps.
"While 54 detained individuals are being investigated, no details linking them to Pulwama have been found so far," the foreign office said, referring to the area where the attack occurred in Kashmir in February. "Similarly, the 22 pin locations shared by India have been examined. No such camps exist." The statement said Pakistan was "willing to allow visits, on request, to these locations".
Tensions between old foes India and Pakistan soared after the suicide bombing, which killed 40 Indian security personnel and was later claimed by the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Pakistan, long accused by India of using militant proxies in Kashmir, has denied it was involved in the attack. Earlier this month Islamabad launched an apparent crackdown as it came under pressure to demonstrate its sincerity about eliminating militancy, rounding up alleged militants and shuttering mosques and clinics linked to banned groups.
But the crackdown is reminiscent of previous efforts which later saw militants released without charge, and Pakistan has yet to convince the international community that their latest thrust is sincere. The US also appeared to increase pressure on Islamabad this week, circulating a draft resolution to the UN Security Council that would blacklist Masood Azhar, the Pakistan-based leader of JeM, as a terrorist. Pakistan's ally China earlier this month blocked a request to blacklist Azhar, and the move by Washington sets up a potential clash with Beijing.
It comes as tensions between Indian and Pakistan were ratcheted-up again this week after Delhi announced it had destroyed a low-orbiting satellite in a missile test Wednesday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the anti-satellite missile test was peaceful and not designed to create "an atmosphere of war". But analysts said it would not go unnoticed in China and Pakistan, and could be interpreted as a show of Delhi's advancing military capabilities.- Agencies
