He said going ahead with the seminar risks opening up the Army to charges of getting involved in the “murky world” of politics coupled with “interfering” in religious matters.His party colleague and NC’s chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to “assess the appropriateness” of the Army discussing an issue that figures prominently in the BJP’s manifesto while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in effect.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also criticised the Army for conducting the seminar.”What we are seeing is the continuation of the trend of ‘Naya Kashmir’ and Akhir Kab Tak campaigns in which the Army as an institution was seen as playing a partisan role and directly interfering in the political affairs of J-K,” PDP spokesperson Najmus Saqib said.”Post backlash, we had seen some systemic changes, but unfortunately the seminar by the India Army as an institution depicts how far the lines between politics and security apparatus have blurred in J-K,” he added.Saqib said this is a “very dangerous trend” and is a “manifestation of larger systemic erosion of the Constitution”.After the backlash, the Army cancelled the event “due to implementation of the Model Code of Conduct”.”The Legal Awareness Seminar on March 26 by Kashmir Jurist in Kashmir University has been cancelled due to implementation of the Model Code of Conduct,” Srinagar-based Defence Spokesman Lt Col Manoj Sahu said.The invite for the seminar to the mediapersons was sent by Srinagar-based PRO Defence on behalf of General Officer Commanding HQ 31 Sub Area, Major General PBS Lamba.
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