Article 370: NC leader Akbar Lone says he is responsible citizen of India, owes his allegiance to Constitution

New Delhi [India]: National Conference MP Mohammad Akbar Lone files an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that he is a responsible and dutiful citizen of India and he has taken oath in Parliament to owe allegiance to the Constitution and uphold India’s unity and integrity.

“I am a responsible and dutiful citizen of the Union of India. I have exercised my right to approach this Court through Article 32 of the Constitution. I reiterate the oath taken while being sworn in as Member of Parliament to preserve and uphold the provisions of the Constitution of India and to protect the territorial integrity of the Nation,” Lone stated in his affidavit.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the affidavit saying it is wholly “inadequate” due to his past objectionable utterances.

“… that I stick to the oath taken while being sworn in as a member of Parliament… this is adding insult to injury,” the Solicitor General said.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud which today concluded the hearing in pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 said that it will analyse the affidavit.

On Monday, the apex court asked Lone, one of the petitioners challenging the abrogation of Article 370, to file an affidavit on his allegiance to the Indian Constitution and that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.

It has asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Lone to tell him to file an affidavit.
Lone had allegedly raised the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

“Furnish an affidavit from Lone that he swears allegiance to the Constitution of India and that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India like all Indians. We have everyone from Jammu and Kashmir here,” the bench told Sibal on Monday.

The bench asked Lone to file an affidavit after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre yesterday urged the top court that Lone should file an affidavit asserting that he owed allegiance to the Constitution of India and opposed terrorism and secessionist forces by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

The bench also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant asked Sibal if Lone unconditionally accepts that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that he bears allegiance to the Constitution of India.

CJI Chandrachud said that when Lone has invoked the jurisdiction of the apex court under Article 32 of the Constitution, then he has to believe in the sovereignty of the nation and that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.

Sibal then told the bench that Lone is a Lok Sabha MP and as an MP he has taken oath owing allegiance to the Constitution and accepted Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India.

Sibal has also said that the incidents happened in the Assembly in 2018 and that the BJP Speaker had asked Lone to chant certain slogans as well.

An advocate appearing for NGO ‘Roots in Kashmir’, a Kashmiri Pandit group, raised the issue before the bench saying he has filed an affidavit about a “startling fact” which came to his knowledge.

NGO ‘Roots in Kashmir’ has filed an affidavit in the top court alleging Lone, who was a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from 2002 to 2018, had shouted ‘Pakistan zindabad’ on the floor of the House and had refused to apologise for an act.

It alleged that Lone was known as “a supporter of secessionist forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir which support Pakistan.”

The NGO said Lone had often openly made pro-Pakistan statements and probably that explains his opposition to challenge any move that brings the people of Jammu and Kashmir on par with the rest of the country.

The Constitution bench on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

On August 5, 2019, the Central government announced the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 and split the region into two Union territories