J&K Bill referred to select panel

Threatened with a controversy of the proportions of the Shahbano case, the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir put off the Bill disqualifying women in Jammu and Kashmir married to outsiders from the right to own property in the state.

The Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill 2004 has been referred to a select committee and will come up for discussion in the Upper House on March 11.

The government made this move when the four-member Panthers' Party threatened to withdraw support if the Bill was allowed to become a law. The most important ally of the PDP, the Congress today counselled the government to rethink the Bill.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also spoke to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on the issue and asked him to reconsider a legislation that was provoking opposition all over the country.

The Bill represents the Kashmiri yearning for protected status for the state as guaranteed by Article 370 of the Constitution and the political pressure of the Islamic clergy in Kashmir on the one hand, and the protection of the rights of Kashmiri women as Indians on the other.

The PDP itself was non-committal on the fate of the Bill. While indicating it was not averse to an amendment to remove gender bias in the Bill, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the views of the Congress leadership asking the PDP government to defer the Bill were "the personal opinions of Congress leaders".

"The hue and cry raised over the issue is aimed at putting the Congress on the backfoot during the Lok Sabha elections. Some parties are playing electoral politics with the Permanent Resident Bill to derive mileage out of it. The Bill was passed by the elected representative unanimously but the National Conference, true to its opportunistic character, scuttled its passage in the Upper House," she alleged.

"The Bill will be discussed in the Upper House and only there will a decision be taken whether to refer it to the select committee or not," she said.

The National Conference has a majority in the Upper House and if put to vote, the Bill will be defeated in view of the strong exception taken by the party to it.

The matter came up at the Congress briefing today where party spokesman Kapil Sibal read out the text of a letter written by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi referring to her "personal anguish" at the proposed Bill.

In Jammu, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma said the Congress chief had advised the state party unit to have a thorough debate on the Bill in view of the importance of the legislation. He said the Upper House that would meet on March 11 would discuss the Bill.

Very much on the defensive, Sharma said certain misgivings had been created over the inheritance issue.

The proposed law, in its objects and reasons, made it clear that a woman, even after marrying a non-state subject, would inherit the property as per the personal law of the religion she belonged to, he added.

However, it was clear that in Kashmir, feelings ran high on the matter and residual hostility to the Congress simmered even among its alliance partners.

Law Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig said no decision had been taken at the government level to refer the Bill to a select committee.

"The Cabinet has not even met on the issue," said Beig, who had moved the controversial Bill in the Assembly.

On the other hand, the Panthers' Party described the Bill as "most treacherous, inhuman and disastrous". Chairman of JKNPP, Bhim Singh said, "this Bill infringes on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Keshwanand Bharti case".

Accusing the PDP-Congress-led coalition of getting the Bill passed through "cheating and fraud", he said the Bill was not even listed on the proceedings list of the Assembly on the day it was passed. It was not even circulated among the members as required under rules, he added.

The Bill, he said represented "ulterior motive to appease fundamentalist forces in the Valley and also to appeal a section of voters".

Pointing out that the Bill had been passed by the Assembly unanimously, Beig said the PDP as well as other coalition partners, People's Democratic Forum (PDF) and CPI(M) had not changed their stand on the Bill after its passage.

He said the issue did not fall under the purview of the coalition's common minimum programme and each partner could have an independent view as was witnessed in the NDA.