Modi regime’s move to nominate 5 assembly members another assault on democracy, says Mehbooba Mufti
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has termed the Modi government’s decision to nominate five members to the so-called assembly as yet another assault on democracy in the territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in a post on X, Mehbooba Mufti said the decision of the Modi regime to nominate five assembly members in IIOJK after the elections is a blatant violation of democratic principles. She said that nowhere else in India can the Modi government arbitrarily select members of a legislative assembly against the will of the people. However, in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority territory, the Modi government’s authoritarianism is laid bare.
She said that following the illegal abrogation and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, the biased delimitation process, and discriminatory reservation of assembly seats, these nominations represent yet another major blow to the very idea of democracy in the occupied territory. Representation, she asserted, should come from the people’s vote, not from the diktat of the central government.
It is worth mentioning that the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir that the occupied territory’s Lieutenant Governor can nominate five members to the assembly without the advice of any elected government. The Congress leader Ravinder Kumar Sharma has challenged in the High Court the provision granting the Lieutenant Governor the power to appoint these five members, with the hearing scheduled for August 14.
