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Karan Singh says integral review of Art 370 overdue

Amid a raging row over Article 370 that guarantees special status for Jammu and Kashmir, senior Congress leader Karan Singh on Thursday appealed to all concerned to exercise restraint, saying the ‘extremely sensitive’ issue needs to be handled in a mature fashion.

Singh, whose father Maharaja Hari Singh had agreed to accede to India by signing the Instrument of Accession in October 1947, expressed distress over the controversy and said any ‘steam-roller approach’ to deal with the issue was not appropriate.

‘I have been distressed by the fierce controversy that has broken out in the press and electronic media with regard to Article 370, flowing from an avoidable statement by the MoS in PM’s office. The whole question is extremely sensitive and must be handled coolly and in a mature fashion,’ he said in a statement.

Jitendra Singh, the MoS in the Prime Minister's Office, on Tuesday triggered a controversy when he said the new government has started the process for repealing the provision. J and K chief minister Omar Abdullah and opposition PDP slammed Singh for his comments while the minister said he has been ‘misquoted’.

Singh said the kind of statements being issued from both sides will only create ‘further turmoil and tension’ in J and K. ‘My appeal to all concerned is to kindly tone down the rhetoric and not let the Minister's statement plunge the new government almost immediately into a complex and difficult situation,’ he said. PTI
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