“All the paperwork for removal of the article 370 is complete only the timing has to be decided by the Prime Minister, we would scrap it when the time is right, we are aware of the consequences that would follow and we must be able to meet these” said Subramaniam Swamy member of Rajya Sabhya. He was speaking at a function organized by All India Kashmiri Samaj(AKS) to mark the day of accession of Kashmir with India. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession on October 26, 1947.
Swamy also claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir government can be tried for genocide owing the violence against Kashmiri Hindus which brought about an exodus of this community to other parts of the country. “From 1988 onwards Farouk Abdulla released all kinds of criminals and then the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits started which went on till 1992, lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits fled J&K. At least 700 Pandits are recorded to have been murdered, yet there are just 215 FIR’s in the records of the J&K government, and they are not being acted upon, somebody filed a PIL to the Supreme Court and a bench of Kehar Singh and Chandrachud said now a little too late. However the Geneva Convention declares that there is no time limit for proceedings against genocide, even if we have not ratified Geneva Convention Indian Penal Code can be interpreted to categorize a crime as genocide. My legal team is working on this and I want the J&K Government of the time to be prosecuted.”
Describing the Kashmir issue as an issue which is raises questions about our identity he suggested setting up of an Autonomous Development Council to look into the needs of the Kashmiri Pandits “Autonomous Development Council should be set up for the Pandits, like there is for the Coorgi people, and for the security of the Pandits under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 10 lakh ex servicemen ought to be settled there. We should give them money, weapons not to populate the area but to protect Pandits who would go and reside there.”
Swamy was of the opinion that the Hindu temples in the valley should be under the central forces for the sake of their security.
