Plate is full as Prime Minister plans a visit to J&K

Singh is well aware that a strained relationship between the Congress and the PDP affects both the Hurriyat talks and the larger peace process with Pakistan.

The latest issue: the controversial Permanent Residents (Disqualification) Bill 2004 which seeks legally to restrict the rights of Kashmiri women who marry persons outside the state.

The emotive Bill is seen as an attempt to protect the special character of the state. Passed unanimously by the Assembly in March this year, it lapsed in the Upper House, as the Congress got second thoughts after initially supporting it.

Since elections were on, it felt it might give the BJP a stick to beat it with, labelling it as ‘‘anti-women.’’

But the issue is back on the boil with the National Conference threatening to bring a Private Member’s Bill if the government fails to introduce it in the current session.

The Congress continues to be opposed to the Bill though the PDP has offered to bring in amendments: make the Bill apply to both Kashmiri men and women who marry non-Kashmiris and live outside the state; to insulate divorced or widowed women—and migrants forced to leave—from the Bill.

Although for 77 years now, it’s been legal practice to disqualify Kashmiri women who marries outside the state from acquiring immovable property in the state, the need for such a legislation came to be felt when the J&K High Court ruled in 2002 that the existing provision was not explicit enough—and that the Assembly could enact a law to provide for it.

The situation could become untenable for the PDP, if the NC moves a private Bill and the PDP is left with no option but to support it. Though the bill will not pass muster without the Congress’s support, it could send a message in the Valley that the New Delhi is not interested in maintaining the special character of the state.

Already, NC leaders are pitching it as a Delhi vs Srinagar issue, charging the PDP with selling out. The PDP suspects the Congress may have a tacit understanding with the NC and may ultimately edge it out. The Congress, on the other hand, suspects that Mufti won’t give up the Chief Ministership next summer as per the terms of the alliance. And that the PDP is using the Bill to position itself for a possible mid-term poll.