J&K Bar Association Will Start State Campaign To Mobilize Public Opinion To Support Government

A delegation of Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association, led by its newly elected President, Advocate B. S. Salathia, on Monday called on Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space.

Recently a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar asked Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association (JKHBA) bar to talk to the various stakeholders, take their opinion and inform the court by May 9. The Bench was hearing a petition filed by the Association seeking ban on the use of pellet guns in the state.

As per a press release, Mr. Salathia assured Dr. Jitendra Singh that the entire team of the Jammu Bar Association fully supported the Government of India’s stand on Kashmir, and was of the firm view that there cannot be any compromise or second thought on the issue. He also informed Mr. Singh of the Bar Association’s intentions to start a campaign across the State to “mobilize the public opinion in this regard and to educate the masses about the various facts and evidences of history”.

Further, the press release states that in response, Mr. Singh told the delegation that time was ripe for “all the nationalist forces to unite and defeat the mischievous designs of a handful few who keep raising the bogey of so-called Kashmir issue only to promote their vested agenda, at the cost of the common man and the common youth.”

Referring to the community of lawyers as the opinion makers in the society, Mr. Singh is understood to have pegged his hopes on the Bar Association to make the people “understand their stakes and not allow the State of Jammu & Kashmir to lag behind in seeking the rich benefits and dividends available to the other States of India.”

The Bar Association delegation also included Mr. Sachin Gupta (Vice President), Mr. Prem Sadotra (General Secretary), Mr. Himanshu Sharma (Joint Secretary) and Mr. Chetan Misri (Treasurer).