Eminent citizens slam Gupkar alliance leaders

NEW DELHI:  A group of 267 eminent citizens has slammed the Gupkar declaration for the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The group comprising retired judges, army veterans, ex-bureaucrats and academicians, among others have come down heavily on People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti for her purported statement that she wouldn’t hoist the national flag without the distinct J&K flag.   

The signatories include former Chief Justices of High Courts Anil Deo Singh, Pramod Kohli, M C Garg, former judges S N Dhingra, P N Ravindran, Sarvesh Gupta.  The signatories also include former R&AW chief Sanjeev Tripathi, besides a number of former state chief secretaries, including Anand Bose and K Sreedhar Rao.

Referring to the Gupkar declarations signed by the political outfits from J&K, the statement claimed that the grouping is stoking separatism. “Mufti’s statement that she will not hoist the national flag without the J&K flag is an insult to the national flag, which invites prospection under ‘The Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act, 1971,” the statement claimed. 

A number of former ambassadors and retired state DGPs have also signed the statement, which underlined that certain politicians are taking advantage of the freedom of speech to air anti-national views.  The statement also claimed that the signatories to the Gupkar declarations can be prosecuted under the IPC Section 124A for causing disaffection among the people.