In a significant order, a UAPA Tribunal has ruled that asking for Plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir or advocating for the ‘Right of Self-Determination’ is a secessionist activity and an offence under the anti-terrorism law.
The UAPA Tribunal has said this in a 148-page judgement on June 22 while upholding the ban on terrorist Masrat Alam’s organisation – Muslim League Jammu Kashmir (Masrat Alam faction). The Centre had banned the organisation in December last year and Alam has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. Alam’s organisation contested the ban before the Tribunal, saying it only fights for self-determination of people and J&K and a plebiscite as per the UN resolutions of 1948. The UAPA tribunal has, however, rejected the contention.
The Tribunal has ruled that no one can take refuge behind the UN resolutions of 1948 as the said UN resolution is in a “peculiar historical context and susceptible to various interpretations.” The order further said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India is inviolable, and the same cannot be rendered violable in the “guise of any demand for a so-called plebiscite”. The ruling also said the contention that the peculiar background or circumstances of Kashmir legitimises the aforesaid objects or actions of Alam, “cannot be accepted”.
Over decades, most separatist leaders in J&K like the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani have justified their activities for the sake of a plebiscite in J&K and on the issue of self-determination. However, the Home Ministry told the Tribunal that the only natural corollary of demand of plebiscite is to have secession of territory of Jammu & Kashmir from India through plebiscite so that it can merge with Pakistan. The Centre said advocating “right of self-determination” is nothing but camouflage and a facade to advocating secessionism and cessation of part of the territory of Union of India, the judgement has recorded.
Tribunal Draws the Red Line
The Centre cited chargesheets filed by NIA which clearly mention the speeches and slogans made by Masrat Alam advocating merger of the territory of Kashmir with Pakistan. The Tribunal leant on the same to say that demand for a so-called plebiscite is nothing but a devise or a mechanism to undermine the territorial integrity of India and to encourage secession of part of the territory of India. “The attempt on the part of the association to legitimise the same cannot be countenanced in law. Moreover, the views that may have been expressed by authors/political personalities in the years immediately following independence, cannot impart any legal basis to propagate secessionism,” the ruling said.
The Tribunal said that it is also impermissible for the association to take refuge behind the UN resolutions of 1948 or any international treaty etc. for the purpose of their unlawful activities. “The said UN resolution is in a peculiar historical context and susceptible to various interpretations. However, it has been judicially recognised that the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India is inviolable and is a basic feature of Indian Constitution,” the ruling said.
The Centre told the Tribunal that had the intention of Alam’s organisation been to bring political reform in the territory of Jammu & Kashmir while it being a part of India, it would not have advocated plebiscite as per UNCIP. “Since the territory of J&K is an integral part of India as per Article 1 read with Schedule I of Indian Constitution, the only natural corollary of demand of plebiscite is to have secession of territory of Jammu & Kashmir from India through plebiscite so that it can merge with Pakistan,” the Centre said in an affidavit before the Tribunal.
The Tribunal in its ruling has clearly put out that the contention on behalf Alam that seeking of a plebiscite does not amount to an ‘unlawful activity’ within the meaning of Section 2(o) of the UAPA, is “thoroughly misconceived”.
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