Pakistan: Joint Parliament session under way to discuss Kashmir issue
Islamabad, Aug 6 (IBNS): A joint session of Parliament is currently going on in Pakistan to discuss the current situation of Jammu and Kashmir following the PM Narendra Modi-led government's move of scrapping the Article 35 A and Article 370.
When the session began, it had to be adjourned by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser for 20 minutes due to ruckus caused by opposition lawmakers, reported Geo News.
President Dr Arif Alvi summoned the joined Pariamentary session.
According to Geo News report, Prime Minister Imran Khan will also attend today's joint parliamentary session, a statement from the PM House said earlier.
The official Twitter page of the Pakistani government said: "Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and apprised him about the critical situation of the Occupied Kashmir and the regional peace and security situation."
Kashmir: Developments in India
In a landmark day which witnessed day-long debates, the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 which proposes to bifurcate the terror-hit northern state into two Union Territories - J&K, a Union Territory with Legislative Assembly, and Ladakh, a UT without Legislative Assembly.
Also the Modi government scrapped Article 35 A and Article 370 which were used to give Jammu and Kashmir a special status.
Article 35A of the Indian Constitution allows the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and also provides special rights and privileges to those permanent residents.
Article 370 allows Jammu and Kashmir to have its own constitution, flag and right to handle its own laws except on matters that impact national security.
As several opposition parties walked away, the majority mark of the Upper House was brought down while some non-BJP lawmakers also supported the government's move.
Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, Jagan Reddy's YSR Congress, N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and quite surprisingly Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party supported the government on the bill.
About 125 lawmakers voted for the bill and 61 against it in the 242-member Rajya Sabha.
The bill has been moved in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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