US Congressman Pete Olson praises India on abrogation of Article 370

India registered another diplomatic victory as US congressman Pete Olson praised India for abrogation of Article 370 from Indian constitution, the provided special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Olson who represents the 22nd district of Texas is a member of Republican Party. On Wednesday, he dismantled the entire false narrative being built in the international media against India on Kashmir.

Pete Olson termed Article 370 as "temporary"

In his brief statement in the US congress, Olson said, “Madam Speaker, I rise to share the facts and give an update on what’s happening in the Jammu-Kashmir region” Adding he said, “Jammu-Kashmir was given special treatment in the Constitution of 1947 in India. It was created by the “temporary provisions with respect to the state of Jammu-Kashmir.” It’s known as Article 370. It was supposed to be a stop-gap measure because the government hadn’t been formed yet.” Terming the Article 370 as “temporary” Olson said that the article had forced the people of Jammu and Kashmir to live under different laws than all other Indian citizens.

'It gave the people of Jammu-Kashmir the same rights as all Indians'

“For 70 straight years, this temporary article has forced citizens of Jammu-Kashmir to live under different laws than all other Indians: different rules for citizenship and property ownership”, he said. While speaking about August 5, when the parliament of India decided to abrogate Article 370 from the constitution, he said that the abrogation of the article would now give equal rights to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir. “Earlier this year, the Indian parliament confirmed that Article 370’s temporary status should end. It ended. It gave the people of Jammu-Kashmir the same rights as all Indians” he said.

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'It was a landslide'

He said that it was passed with a landslide vote in both the houses of the Indian parliament and also expressed hope that it would be a stepping stone in bringing people in Kashmir. “It was a landslide: 125 to 61 in the Rajya Sabha and 370 to 70 in the Lok Sabha. This action creates equality for all Indians. Hopefully this action can be a stepping stone to peace in Kashmir”, he said.

On August 5 this year, the Union Government abrogated the Article 370 of the constitution that had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh. Article 370 had deprived the residents of Jammu and Kashmir of various benefits that the constitution of Indian had given to the citizens of other parts of the country.

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