SC has no powers to fiddle with Article 35 A:

Srinagar, Aug 22 : Stating that only the constituent assembly of J&K can make amendments with respect to article 35A and Article 370, Awami National Conference Chief Muzaffar Shah Tuesday said the Supreme Court of India has no powers to fiddle with Article 35 A or Article 370.

According to reports , addressing a press conference here over the Article 35 A which has become a centre stage of controversy, Shah said touching Article 35 A, means inviting constitutional crisis in country.

He said Article 35 A has come into existence by the intervention of the government of India, but it is there since the times of Maharaja. “It was framed in 1846. Article 6 covers this all that has been included in the J&K constitution by Sher-e-Kashmir trough Maharaja in 1950 to safeguard our state. Our state subject laws are 150 years old,” said Shah, who is also grandson of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah.

He said even the Supreme Court of India can’t interfere with Article 370 or 35 A. He asked the Indian government to hold a referendum in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh about the amendment in the issue of Article 35 A, and you (Indian government) will get the answer.

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents, while article 370 gives special status to the state of J&K in the Indian Union.