02-12-2007, 04:47 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Shariat laws now applicable in Jammu and Kashmir</b>
http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ pti_news. asp?gid=4& id=449812
JAMMU, FEB 9
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly tonight passed a bill
bringing the country's only Muslim-majority state in
the ambit of Shariat laws.
Moved as a private members's bill by Opposition leader
Abdul Rahim Rather in the Assembly, the House passed
the legislation by voice vote without any dissent.
With the Congress-PDP led government supporting the
bill, the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public
Distribution Taj Mohideen said "government does not
oppose it and the Law Department has not raised any
objection to it".
Mulsims in the state have so far been governed by
customary laws. Although some marriages in parts of
Kashmir were covered under Shariat laws, Jammu and
Kashmir had no legal frame-work for Shariat to be
applicable.
Rather said Shariat laws will not be applicable so far
as criminal legislation is concerned. He said the
criminal laws will be governed by Indian Penal Code
and Ranbir Penal Code.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA Muzaffar Hussain
Baigh said that application of Shariat laws should be
subject to review by a select committee as it could
create problems for those who have married
non-Muslims.
This would also cause problem for judiciary about the
fate of thousands of pending cases in the courts, he
said adding this would give a licence to Muslims to
marry four to five times in contravention to other
laws.
The Bill was discussed by a select committee before
its passage in the House.
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Bill will deal with
all questions regarding inter-state succession,
special property of female, including personal
property inherited or obtained under contract or gift
or any other provision of personal law, marriage,
dissolution of marriage, including talaq, trusts and
trust properties.
The bill, which was introduced by Rather in the House
on 30th of September 2005, was then sent to Select
Committee on March 29, 2006 on a motion moved by
Mangat Ram Sharma.
Speaker Tara Chand set up a 9-member select committee
headed by the then deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar
Hussain Baigh on May 23, 2006.
The committee made certain amendments by dropping
words "maintenance" and "wakaf" in the bill as these
are governed by the code of CrPC and Jammu and Kashmir
specified Wakafs and specified Wakaf Properties
(management and regulation) Act 2004 respectively.
Excerpts from "Living Under the Shadow of Article 370"
http://kashmirheral d.com/featuredar ticle/article370 .html
J & K already had sufficient autonomy under Article
370 to run roughshod over minority rights and keep
them segregated from the rest of India six decades
after Partition. Article 370 is a special clause in
Indian Constitution, a prize that was extracted out of
India in 1950 by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah for
throwing his lot with India, after lengthy
negotiations with Indian leaders. Article 370 made
Jammu and Kashmir a country within a country, with its
own flag, emblem, constitution and Sadr-i-Riyasat
(Prime Minister). The architect of the Indian
Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar, opposed granting Article
370 but it was on India's first Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru's insistence and personal guarantee
that it was granted to the state. Thus the state's
residents lived under a separate set of laws,
including those related to citizenship, ownership of
property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other
Indians.
That Article 370 was a temporary arrangement is
evident from its wording, which allows its abrogation
by the President of India in consultation with the now
long-defunct Constituent Assembly. The trouble began
even before as Article 370 was promulgated, and the
omens that were seen in 1951 presaged the damage half
a century of Article 370 would do. The Kashmiri
Muslim-dominated National Conference opposed the
extension of Indiaâs citizenship laws, fundamental
rights and related legal rights to the state. They
also began to question the finality of the accession
of the state to India.
Hindus in Jammu rose up in protest in a movement known
as the Praja Parishad agitation. The Praja Parishad
movement strongly opposed any moves towards
independence of the state. Its slogan was 'Ek Vidhan,
Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan' (One Constitution, One flag,
and One President).
The National Conference led by Sheikh Abdullah used
the leeway granted to it by India to grab all the
seats of the Constituent Assembly, squeezing out
representatives of Jammu and Ladakh, and those of
Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs.
Article 370 was designed to maintain the separate
character of valley Muslims at the expense of all
other groups in the state, and at the expense of the
stability and future of the subcontinent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ pti_news. asp?gid=4& id=449812
JAMMU, FEB 9
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly tonight passed a bill
bringing the country's only Muslim-majority state in
the ambit of Shariat laws.
Moved as a private members's bill by Opposition leader
Abdul Rahim Rather in the Assembly, the House passed
the legislation by voice vote without any dissent.
With the Congress-PDP led government supporting the
bill, the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public
Distribution Taj Mohideen said "government does not
oppose it and the Law Department has not raised any
objection to it".
Mulsims in the state have so far been governed by
customary laws. Although some marriages in parts of
Kashmir were covered under Shariat laws, Jammu and
Kashmir had no legal frame-work for Shariat to be
applicable.
Rather said Shariat laws will not be applicable so far
as criminal legislation is concerned. He said the
criminal laws will be governed by Indian Penal Code
and Ranbir Penal Code.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA Muzaffar Hussain
Baigh said that application of Shariat laws should be
subject to review by a select committee as it could
create problems for those who have married
non-Muslims.
This would also cause problem for judiciary about the
fate of thousands of pending cases in the courts, he
said adding this would give a licence to Muslims to
marry four to five times in contravention to other
laws.
The Bill was discussed by a select committee before
its passage in the House.
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Bill will deal with
all questions regarding inter-state succession,
special property of female, including personal
property inherited or obtained under contract or gift
or any other provision of personal law, marriage,
dissolution of marriage, including talaq, trusts and
trust properties.
The bill, which was introduced by Rather in the House
on 30th of September 2005, was then sent to Select
Committee on March 29, 2006 on a motion moved by
Mangat Ram Sharma.
Speaker Tara Chand set up a 9-member select committee
headed by the then deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar
Hussain Baigh on May 23, 2006.
The committee made certain amendments by dropping
words "maintenance" and "wakaf" in the bill as these
are governed by the code of CrPC and Jammu and Kashmir
specified Wakafs and specified Wakaf Properties
(management and regulation) Act 2004 respectively.
Excerpts from "Living Under the Shadow of Article 370"
http://kashmirheral d.com/featuredar ticle/article370 .html
J & K already had sufficient autonomy under Article
370 to run roughshod over minority rights and keep
them segregated from the rest of India six decades
after Partition. Article 370 is a special clause in
Indian Constitution, a prize that was extracted out of
India in 1950 by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah for
throwing his lot with India, after lengthy
negotiations with Indian leaders. Article 370 made
Jammu and Kashmir a country within a country, with its
own flag, emblem, constitution and Sadr-i-Riyasat
(Prime Minister). The architect of the Indian
Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar, opposed granting Article
370 but it was on India's first Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru's insistence and personal guarantee
that it was granted to the state. Thus the state's
residents lived under a separate set of laws,
including those related to citizenship, ownership of
property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other
Indians.
That Article 370 was a temporary arrangement is
evident from its wording, which allows its abrogation
by the President of India in consultation with the now
long-defunct Constituent Assembly. The trouble began
even before as Article 370 was promulgated, and the
omens that were seen in 1951 presaged the damage half
a century of Article 370 would do. The Kashmiri
Muslim-dominated National Conference opposed the
extension of Indiaâs citizenship laws, fundamental
rights and related legal rights to the state. They
also began to question the finality of the accession
of the state to India.
Hindus in Jammu rose up in protest in a movement known
as the Praja Parishad agitation. The Praja Parishad
movement strongly opposed any moves towards
independence of the state. Its slogan was 'Ek Vidhan,
Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan' (One Constitution, One flag,
and One President).
The National Conference led by Sheikh Abdullah used
the leeway granted to it by India to grab all the
seats of the Constituent Assembly, squeezing out
representatives of Jammu and Ladakh, and those of
Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs.
Article 370 was designed to maintain the separate
character of valley Muslims at the expense of all
other groups in the state, and at the expense of the
stability and future of the subcontinent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->