Ex-diplomat Nirupma hails revocation of Article 370

Justifying the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, former foreign secretary Nirupama Menon Rao (2009-11) said on Monday the continuation of status quo in Kashmir was untenable and upheld the timing of the substantive decision.

"Continuation of status quo was untenable because the Pakistan-supported insurgency since 1990 demonstrated that. But triumphalism is not in order. I want Kashmiris to prosper, and most importantly, they live in peace," tweeted city-based noted career diplomat.

Hoping fervently that the Central government handled the situation with wisdom, maturity and humanness, Nirupama said many assume Kashmir was frozen in time and space.

"Article 370 was no talisman that guarded the state from evil. Situations evolve. Circumstances change. The fabric of the nation has been torn in Kashmir over the years. This cannot be a standstill scenario. The nation is supreme," she asserted.

On the tragedies afflicting the Kashmiri people and the fractured geo-politics defying easy solutions, the former Indian envoy to the US, China and Sri Lanka said she never ever subscribed to the quelling of human liberties. 

"The mirror is cracked in Kashmir no doubt. I am not for the suppression of civil rights and liberties but the situation in the state is such that an announcement of any decision to revoke Article 370 would have provoked violence. That is the sad reality," she said in a series of tweets hours after the Centre scrapped the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir since the past 70 years.

The J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019 splits the state into two Union Territories with Jammu and Kashmir with an assembly and Ladakh without one.

Recalling that every one of 140 princely states signed the Instrumentation of Accession (IoA) with the Indian dominion after the Independence on August 15, 1947, and agreed to same terms and conditions, Nirupama said the provisions of the Article were intended to be transitional and temporary.-IANS