Article 35A must be protected, says Aiyar

Srinagar : Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Saturday that Article 35A must remain part of the Constitution to ensure that the people of Kashmir do not feel threatened.

Aiyar was delivering a lecture in a seminar organized by the Centre for Peace and Progress in summer capital Srinagar today.

"A right that Kashmiris have for the last 90 years should remain with them so that they do not feel threatened," he said.

"It is in our Constitution and one must not make any attempt to revoke it. Some people are unnecessarily raking up the issue which is not in anyone's interest," he said.

"We can presently do nothing about it because the matter is in the Supreme Court, but I hope the court would take the national interest into account before taking any decision," Aiyar said