Newsmaker | Meet J&K MP Akbar Lone who allegedly raised pro-Pakistan slogans in state assembly

Lone lost to Parray, but in the next election of 2002, he beat the latter comprehensively, and established himself in the politics of the Valley.

In the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Lone said he reiterates the oath taken at the time he was sworn in as MP, to preserve and uphold the provisions of the Constitution and to protect the country’s territorial integrity.

The Court had directed Lone to file the affidavit after his pro-Pakistan remarks in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2018 were raised – and taken up by the Centre’s counsel – during the hearing in the Supreme Court over the abrogation of Article 370. Lone is the lead petitioner in the case seeking that the government order be scrapped, on behalf of his party, the National Conference.

The incident raised in the Supreme Court goes back to J&K Assembly proceedings of 2018, when the BJP was in power for the first time in the erstwhile state, running a coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party. During the Assembly session being held in Jammu, in February 2018, there was a terror attack on the Sunjwan Army camp on the outskirts of the city, lasting over 24 hours, in which six soldiers and a civilian were killed, apart from three militants.

BJP legislators raised the issue of the attack in the House. Among those who joined the angry BJP voices was Speaker Kavinder Gupta, under whose constituency Sunjwan fell. Gupta made remarks blaming a section of the minority community for the attack.

Gupta had to expunge his own remarks as Speaker following an uproar. But by then the BJP had taken up his allegations and started raising slogans of ‘Pakistan Murdabad (Down with Pakistan)’ in the House, and shouting ‘Shame Shame’.

Lone, an MLA from Sonawari, responded with remarks allegedly in defence of Pakistan, which were also expunged by the House.

Questioned by reporters as he exited the House, Lone said his sentiments had been hurt by BJP legislators’ remarks. “I am a Kashmiri… But whatever I am, I am a Muslim first,” he said.

Embarrassed by Lone’s remarks, the NC had dissociated itself from them, slamming Lone for speaking “out of turn” and calling what he had said “completely unacceptable to the party”.

On Monday, after the Supreme Court sought an affidavit from Lone, NC leader Omar Abdullah said: “Whatever the directions of the Supreme Court are, they will be fulfilled in toto.” However, he added, it was important to ask why something that had been said in the Assembly in 2018, had become an issue now. “The (J&K Assembly) Speaker in 2018 was of the BJP. What action was taken by him then?”

While Lone is ailing for quite sometime now, an NC leader said the party did not have anything to add to what it had said in 2018. “Whatever Lone said at that point, the party had dissociated itself from that… But we need to also understand the circumstances under which he said that,” the NC leader said.

Lone, 76, belongs to Sonawari in North Kashmir. A law degree holder from Aligarh Muslim University, he entered politics after a stint as student activist. He fought his first election in 1972 as an NC candidate but lost. He lost his next two elections – in 1977, as a Janata Party candidate, and in 1983, as a candidate of the People’s Conference – as well.

In 1987, Lone returned to the NC. In 1996, he finally came to note with his nomination as an NC candidate against Kukka Parray from Sonawari. In 2002, by when Parray had founded the Jammu and Kashmir Awami League together with other counter-insurgent leaders, Lone defeated him by 13,000 votes. The NC then made him Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

After Lone won the next Assembly elections from the seat as well, in 2008, the NC made him Speaker. However, his stint was marked by controversies because of verbal spats with Opposition leaders, and the NC finally removed him from the post and inducted him as Higher Education minister.

In 2014, Lone again won from Sonawari on the NC ticket.

The PDP-BJP government fell in 2018, and the Assembly was dissolved. In the 2019 general elections, Lone contested from the Baramulla parliamentary seat, and won by a margin of 30,000 votes against his People’s Conference rival.

Lone along with fellow NC MP Hasnain Masoodi filed the petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of the party challenging the abrogation of J&K’s special status.

On Tuesday, as Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said he would examine Lone’s affidavit, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the Centre said Lone’s statement was “adding insult to injury to the nation” as it expressed no remorse for what he had said.

In his one-page affidavit, Lone submitted: “I am a responsible and dutiful citizen of the Union of India. I have exercised my right to approach this Hon’ble Court through Article 32 of the Constitution… I reiterate the oath taken while being sworn in as Member of Parliament to preserve and uphold the provisions of the Constitution of India and to protect the territorial integrity of the Nation.”