Kashmir Article 35A

Controversy over State Subject laws: Not just 1, 3 petitions challenge Article 35A

Right-wing leaning NGO, West Pakistan Refugees, 2 individuals filed cases in 2014, 2015, 2017 in Supreme Court challenging J&K state subject laws on different grounds

As Jammu and Kashmir is in a bit of uncertainty over the challenge to Article 35A of Indian Constitution in the Supreme Court, it has come to fore that not just one but three petitions challenging the validity of the law have been filed in the apex court.

From questioning the President’s powers to claims that Article 35A violates basic structure of the Constitution of India and promotes gender bias, the petitioners have taken different grounds to challenge the Constitutional provision that grants special rights to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

J&K’s advocate general Jahangir Iqbal Ganie confirmed to Greater Kashmir that three petitions have challenged the Article.

He said the Court has tagged these petitions but added that “no notice has been issued in two of these petitions.”

The petitioners - We the Citizens, West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee and Charu Wali Khanna/ Dr Seema Razdan - have respectively challenged the Constitutional provision in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

The Article 35A was incorporated in the Constitution of India by the President through the Constitution (application to J&K) Order 1954. Under Article 35A, the J&K legislature is empowered to define permanent residents of the State and grant special rights and privileges to them.

It protects all the state laws and rules that prohibit non-state subjects from acquiring land in the state, apply for government jobs and scholarships or participate in state and panchayat elections.

WRIT PETITION 722/2014:

This petition has been filed by Delhi-based little known NGO “We the Citizens” in the year 2014. Those associated with the non- governmental organization have close links with the right-wing Hindu groups.

In this petition, the NGO has prayed that Article 35A should be struck down, claiming that President has no powers to insert new Article in the Constitution of India.

“The  Constitution (application to J&K order 1954) has been issued by the  President of India by exercising power conferred under clause 1 of Article 370 of Constitution of India. A perusal of Article 370 would clearly show that there is no power conferred on the President of India to amend Constitution by incorporating any new Article in the Constitution. Therefore, inclusion of Article 35A within Part-III of the Constitution of India is absolutely unconstitutional. Therefore, the provisions contained in Presidential Order 1954 may be declared to be unconstitutional,” the petition reads.

According to the petition, “The Constitution can be amended only by the Parliament. No process of amendment can alter it. Any action taken contrary to Article 368 shall be void and void ab-initio. In the present case the impugned action is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.”

WRIT PETITION 871/2015:

The West Pakistan refugees have filed a petition to challenge Article

35A along with Section 6 of the J&K Constitution.

It has been questioned on the grounds that basic structure of the Constitution of India cannot be amended.

“Article 35A  is ex facie unconstitutional as it seeks to sanctify deprivation of fundamental rights of a class of citizens of India residing in the State of J&K…….. By a series of judgments including Keshavananda Bharati, fundamental rights have been reckoned as core aspect of the basic structure. Article 35 A has been positioned by an executive fiat of the President exercising powers under Article 370. It is emphasized that under no circumstances can the president under Article 370 do what by the Parliament is disentitled by the judgment of this Court Keshavananda Bharati versus state of Kerala,” the petition reads.

According to the petition, “The cumulative effect of Article 35A and section 6 is that a privileged class of permanent residents is created and only they are entitled for various rights.”

The Section 6 of J&K Constitution defines permanent residents of the state on the basis of two notifications issued by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927 and 1932.

The West Pakistan refugees are seeking state subject rights like right to acquire property and apply for government jobs in the State, the petition reveals.

 WRIT PETITION 396/2017:

One more petition challenging the constitutional provision has been filed by Charu Wali Khanna and Dr. Seema Razdan. The petitioners have claimed that Article 35A promotes gender bias and discrimination.

“Under the guise of Article 370 and Article 35A, the men and women are subjected to different treatments and discriminated on the basis of gender,” reads the petition.

Charu Wali Khanna, according to the petition, claims that her family had migrated from Kashmir during Afghan rule (1753-1819).

The petitioners have also challenged section 6 of the J&K Constitution and the notification issued by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927. The 1927 notification, which laid foundation of state subject law, defines different classes of state subjects.

PFLP salutes anti-racist struggle in Charlottesville

PFLP salutes anti-racist struggle in Charlottesville, calls for struggle against racism, fascism, Zionism and imperialism 
Aug15 2017

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mourns the martyr Heather Heyer and wishes speedy healing to the wounded anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia in the United States as they confronted a racist, fascist rally on Saturday, August 12. The martyr and the wounded are part of the global list of those who have fallen in the struggles of all peoples to confront racist powers and they will always be remembered as such.

Contrary to the assertions of some corporate media in the United States, the fascist rally in Virginia in “defense” of a Confederate statue is not a divergence from U.S. ruling politics but a reflection of them. The United States has always been built on the genocide of Indigenous people and the theft of Indigenous land, the genocidal confiscation of Black lives and Black labor and the globally murderous power of capitalism and imperialism.

The rise of these kinds of demonstrations of racism are also an expression of the crisis of U.S. capitalism and imperialism in the Trump era, as well as the “debate” of the two imperialist political parties. The actions of anti-racists in Charlottesville and elsewhere disrupt this “debate” and highlight the true history and reality of the United States.

The bombastic framework of Trump’s threats against peoples and nations around the world and the officially-sanctioned scapegoating of oppressed communities comes hand in hand with the attempt by Trump to label racist attacks as “violence on many sides.” Indeed, it is reminiscent of attempts to label the resistance of the Palestinian people to occupation, oppression and colonialism as a “cycle of violence” or “hatred” rather than a just fight for liberation against a brutal colonizer.

The protesters who confronted the racist forces are, by and large, Left and revolutionary forces, including Black movements who have been on the front lines confronting U.S. state violence and repression, Communists, anarchists and radical socialists who are committed to fighting and stopping racism and oppression. The denunciation of racist terror on the streets of Charlottesville must also be combined with the denunciation of U.S. racist terror in police uniform on the streets of cities across the country as well as that in advanced armored vehicles and warplanes on peoples around the world. Trump’s current threats are nothing more than an ongoing continuation of U.S. imperialism’s bloody wars on the peoples of the world, especially of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, which have continued in an uninterrupted imperial march for well over a century.

Whether in Palestine or in Virginia, it is right to resist racist terror, including and especially that of the state. The far right in Europe, the United States and the Zionist movement share information, resources and propaganda against Black, Arab and other movements, peoples and communities (even while the far-right spouts anti-Jewish slogans alongside its anti-Black and anti-Arab hatred on American and European streets) – and the racist state powers and police authorities in the United States and the Israeli occupation are linked together with aid, resources and the common goals of Zionism and imperialism. We must also be united to fight racism, Zionism, capitalism and imperialism in all of our diverse, connected struggles for justice and liberation.

Zionist organizations and movements within the United States have been engaged in long-lasting alliances with fellow right-wing and racist forces around the world. While some are attempting to position themselves after Charlottesville as opponents of racism, these organizations are in fact defenders and proponents of racist oppression, not only in Palestine but in the United States and elsewhere where they have pushed for profiling and repression of Arab, Muslim, Black and other community organizing and even engaged in direct spying and surveillance on a range of anti-racist forces. Just as Israel traded arms and support with apartheid South Africa, the Zionist movement today is deeply engaged with other racist forces as has been vividly displayed on the streets in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany and elsewhere.

These racist and fascist mobilizations in the United States have taken a specific interest in targeting Arab and Muslim communities, immigrants and refugees and framing them as a “danger” or a “threat.” The targeting of Arabs and Muslims by these groups comes hand in hand with intense police surveillance and so-called “anti-terror” legislation that seeks to criminalize the Palestinian liberation movement and drive the community into fear.

Palestinians in the United States are deeply involved in the fight against racism and oppression of all forms, confronting the forces inflicting that violence on the world, and the Palestinian flag is a worldwide symbol of resistance to racist terror.

We stand with the movements in the United States fighting back against racism and fascism as part of our global struggle.

Long live international solidarity!

Economic War with China Is Everything, North Korea a 'Slideshow'

‘Economic War with China Is Everything,’ North Korea a ‘Sideshow’: White House Chief Strategist and that China is winning.

By Telesur
Global Research, August 18, 2017
teleSUR 17 August 2017

The United States is currently engaged in an “economic war” with China to maintain its position as the world’s top hegemon, and appears to be losing it, White House Strategist and former editor of the right-wing publication Breitbart News, Steve Bannon said in an unexpected interview published Wednesday.

“We’re at economic war with China. It’s in all their literature. They’re not shy about saying what they’re doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and its gonna be them if we go down this path,” Bannon said to author and professor Robert Kuttner.

“The economic war with China is everything. And we have have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we’re five years away, I think, ten years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we’ll never be able to recover,” he continued.

Bannon indicated that the current tensions and threats surrounding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea, are just a “sideshow” for the battle for global hegemony with China. He said he is pressuring within the Trump administration to use the tensions in Korea as a way to impose economic pressure on China.

“We’re going to run the tables on these guys [China]. We’ve come to the conclusion that they’re in an economic war and they’re crushing us,” he said.

Although Trump has repeatedly engaged in beligerant rhetoric toward the DPRK, saying that the U.S.’s arsenal is “locked and loaded” and that the North Korean people will face “fire and fury,” Bannon directly rejected the potential for a military confrontation on the peninsula.

“There’s no military solution [to the DPRK’s nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us,” Bannon said.

The DPRK has continued its program to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons in spite of pressure and threats demanding that they halt the efforts. They claim that the weapons act as a deterrent to a potential U.S. invasion or regime change attempt.

Bannon went on to explain how he was acting withing the Trump administration to push anti-China economic policies, such as the recently announced Section 301 complaint from the 1974 Trade Act targeting China’s alleged “unfair” trade practices. His struggle is within the administration also, where he said he fights “every day” against the “apparatus” to pressure those within the administration to follow his line and sideline those who don’t.

China has been pushing for a “double freeze” plan, which would involve the U.S. halting its military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, which is a key demand of the DPRK, in exchange for Pyongyang stopping its missile tests. On Tuesday, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert scoffed at the idea that such a deal would take place. Bannon however, indicated he might consider such a deal, but that such prospects were remote.

Trump is currently embroiled in criticism domestically and internationally for placing the blame for violence on “both sides” of the recent neo-Nazi and white-nationalist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in a death and numerous injuries when a white-nationalist drove a car into a group of counter-protesters.

Bannon however, dismissed white nationalists as “a collection of clowns.”

“Ethno-nationalism – it’s losers. It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much,” he said.

While he rejected “ethno-nationalism” in the interview, he made clear that he was embracing economic nationalism, as embodied in his anti-China crusades. “If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats,” he said. “I want them to talk about racism every day.”

As a former editor of the far-right wing publication Breitbart News, Bannon is considered to be a major figure within the U.S. far-right, and a major ideological force within the Trump administration as the White House Chief Strategist.

The original source of this article is teleSUR
Copyright © Telesur, teleSUR, 2017

புதினப்பலகைச் செய்திக்கு ENB கண்டனம்!

PTI வெளியிட்ட செய்தி

Lanka appoints first Tamil Navy chief after four decades

Colombo, Aug 18 (PTI) Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah was today appointed as the chief of Sri Lanka's naval forces, making him the first from the minority Tamil community to head the Navy since the brutal civil war erupted in the country 45 years ago.

Sinniah, who played a decisive role in the destruction of the LTTE warships in deep sea during the height of the civil war, was appointed as the Navy chief by President Maithripala Sirisena.
"Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah, who has served Sri Lanka Navy with immense loyalty for many decades, took office as the Navy Commander today," President Sirisena tweeted.
His services will be effective from August 22.

Sinniah succeeds Vice Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne who has retired.

He is the second Tamil to head the Lankan Navy after Rajan Kadirgamar, who was the commander in the late 1960s.

Sinniah is the first from the Tamil community to head the Navy since the outbreak of the civil war in the north and east of the island in 1972.

He successfully commanded a mission in 2007 to destroy the LTTE's weapons smuggling ships in international waters off Indonesia and Australia, that is considered as Sri Lankan Navy's biggest achievement, media reports said.

Sinniah, who joined the Navy in 1982, was the senior most Naval officer to be in active combat operations at sea during the conflict with the LTTE separatists.

It was also announced that Wijegunaratne would be appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The LTTE waged a war with the government to carve out a separate Tamil homeland in the regions with the conflict ending in 2009. Tamils in the country claim discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority.

According to UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by security forces during Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to the brutal civil war with with the defeat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

http://ptinews.com/news/8992734_Lanka-appoints-first-Tamil-Navy-chief-after-four-decades.html

புதினப் பலகை வெளியிட்ட செய்தி:

அரை நூற்றாண்டுக்குப் பின் சிறிலங்கா கடற்படைத் தளபதியாக தமிழருக்கு வாய்ப்பு

Aug 19, 2017 | 2:22 by சிறப்புச் செய்தியாளர் in செய்திகள் 
சிறிலங்காவில் கிட்டத்தட்ட அரை நூற்றாண்டுகளுக்குப் பின்னர் தமிழர் ஒருவரை படைத்தளபதிகளில் ஒருவராக, சிறிலங்கா அதிபர் மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன நியமித்திருப்பதாக அனைத்துலக ஊடகங்கள் செய்தி வெளியிட்டுள்ளன.

சிறிலங்கா கடற்படையின் 21 ஆவது தளபதியாக, றியர் அட்மிரல் ட்ராவிஸ் சின்னையா நேற்று சிறிலங்கா அதிபரால் நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். இவர் ஒரு தமிழரராவார்.

1970ஆம் ஆண்டுக்குப் பின்னர், சிறிலங்காவின் தனிநாடு கோரிய தமிழ் மக்களின் ஆயுதப் போராட்டம் உருவான பின்னர், தமிழர்கள் எவரும், முப்படைகளின் தளபதியாக சிறிலங்கா அரசாங்கத்தினால் நியமிக்கப்படவில்லை.

சிறிலங்கா ஆயுதப்படைகளில் சிங்களவர்களே பெரும்பாலும் அங்கம் வகித்திருந்த போதிலும், உயர் அதிகாரிகளாக இருந்த தமிழர்கள் சிலர், முப்படைகளுக்கும் தலைமை தாங்கும் தளபதியாக நியமிக்கப்படக் கூடிய வாய்ப்புகளைப் பெற்றிருந்தாலும், அந்த வாய்ப்புகள் அவர்களுக்கு மறுக்கப்பட்டிருந்தன.

இந்த நிலையில், 1970 களுக்குப் பின்னர் முதல் முறையாக தமிழரான றியர் அட்மிரல் ட்ராவிஸ் சின்னையாவை, சிறிலங்கா கடற்படைத் தளபதியாக நியமித்துள்ளார் சிறிலங்கா அதிபர் மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன.

இவர் சிறிலங்கா கடற்படையின் தளபதியாக பொறுப்பேற்கும் இரண்டாவது தமிழர் ஆவார்.
இதற்கு முன்னர், அட்மிரல் ராஜநாதன் கதிர்காமர் சிறிலங்கா கடற்படைத் தளபதியாக பதவி வகித்திருந்தார்.1960 நொவம்பர் 16ஆம் நாள் தொடக்கம், 1970 ஜூலை 30ஆம் நாள் வரை, சுமார் 10 ஆண்டுகள் அவர் சிறிலங்கா கடற்படைத் தளபதியாக பதவியில் இருந்தார்.

சிறிலங்கா கடற்படையின் தளபதியாக நீண்டகாலம் பதவியில் இருந்தவர் இவரேயாவார்.
அதேவேளை, சிறிலங்கா இராணுவத்தின் முதலாவது தளபதியாக, மேஜர் ஜெனரல் அன்ரன் முத்துக்குமாரு,  1955 பிப்ரவரி 09 தொடக்கம், 1959 டிசம்பர் 31 வரை பணியாற்றியிருந்தார்.
போர் முடிவுக்கு வந்து 8 ஆண்டுகளுக்குப் பின்னர், சிறிலங்கா கடற்படைத் தளபதியாக, தமிழரான, றியர் அட்மிரல் ட்ராவிஸ் சின்னையா நியமிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளமை தொடர்பான செய்திக்கு, அனைத்துலக ஊடகங்கள் முக்கியத்துவம் அளித்துள்ளன.

றியர் அட்மிரல் ட்ராவிஸ் சின்னையா, முன்னைய ஆட்சிக்காலத்தில் கோத்தாபய ராஜபக்சவினால், அமெரிக்காவின் முகவர் என்று குற்றம்சாட்டப்பட்டவராவார்.

அரசியல் பழிவாங்கல் அச்சுறுத்தலால் சிறிலங்காவில் இருந்து வெளியேறி, அவுஸ்ரேலியாவில் தஞ்சமடைந்திருந்தார். ஆட்சி மாற்றத்துக்குப் பின்னரே அவர் நாடு திரும்பினார் என்பதுது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

http://www.puthinappalakai.net/2017/08/19/news/25351