Farooq Abdullah should be disqualified from Lok Sabha over remarks on PoK, says J&K bar association chief

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association president BS Slathia on Saturday asked the government to file sedition charges against National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah for his recent remarks that PoK belongs to Pakistan. He also demanded disqualification of Abdullah from the Lok Sabha and derecognition of his party by the Election Commission (EC). [caption id=“attachment_4216699” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of senior National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. Firstpost/Samir Yasir[/caption] Taking a serious exception to Abdullah’s “divisive and unsetting statement that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is Pakistani’s and India does not have the capacity to retrieve it”, Slathia demanded immediate action against him under Section 124-A (sedition) of the Ranbir Penal Code and related provisions of law, so that a right message goes to everyone that no “anti-national statements will be accepted”. “It is shocking that Abdullah, who remained chief minister for a number of terms and served the Government of India as a Cabinet minister, had the audacity to challenge the Indian state which Pakistan comprehensively did in 1965, 1971 and 1999, and divided Pakistan into two countries,” he said. Slathia said what Abdullah said was an act of sedition which cannot be condoned under any circumstance. He said India is not a banana republic where anyone can challenge the great institution of the Indian state and walk away free. The association chief urged the speaker of the Lok Sabha and the EC to immediately disqualify him from its membership and derecognise his political party because he has subverted Article 1 of the Indian Constitution and Section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir state Constitution.