At an all party meeting on Thursday, various politicians of Jammu and Kashmir demanded the shifting of additional solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta from Article 35 A case in the Supreme Court.
This was stated by former chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah after the conclusion of the meeting at NC patron Farooq Abdullah's residence in Srinagar.
During the hearing on the case in the top court on August 31, Mehta, who represents the state, had toed the line of the Central government that certain aspects of the Article needed to be debated
"It can't be denied that there is an aspect of gender discrimination in it (Article 35A),'' Mehta had said.
Omar said the meeting was called to discuss the prevailing security and political situation in the state.
“All the leaders in unison claimed that the additional solicitor general has crossed his brief,'' he said. ''Even the state government has accepted this.''
He said all the participants agreed that Mehta should be taken off the case when it comes up for hearing in January.
Omar said Mehta was sent to defend the article 35 A case as he was representing state government and not the Central government.
He said the lawyers who defended the case earlier must be brought back to defend the case.
He said the political leaders will write to the government that first there should be elections in the state so that an elected government can defend the case in the court.
“The state is under governor’s rule and we don’t know the position of the Central government on Article 35 A,'' he said. ''We have apprehensions regarding the defence of the case in Supreme Court. We demand that the case not be proceeded until J&K has an elected government.”
About the boycott of civic polls by NC, Omar said his party had not asked people to boycott.
“If the government thinks without the participation of two major parties (NC and PDP) any election is worth, let them go ahead,” he said.
The PDP didn't participate in the meeting. Its spokesman Fayaz Mir said they were not informed about the agenda of the meeting.