Srinagar, Aug 25 : Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Saturday that Article 35A must remain part of the Constitution to ensure that the people of Kashmir do not feel threatened.

Aiyar was delivering a lecture in a seminar organized by the Centre for Peace and Progress in summer capital Srinagar today. "A right that Kashmiris have for the last 90 years should remain with them so that they do not feel threatened," he said.

"It is in our Constitution and one must not make any attempt to revoke it. Some people are unnecessarily raking up the issue which is not in anyone's interest," he said.

"We can presently do nothing about it because the matter is in the Supreme Court, but I hope the court would take the national interest into account before taking any decision," Aiyar said



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Chennai, Nov 2: A 27-year-old native of Thiruvarur district, who had arrived from Sharjah, has tested negative for monkey pox, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said here on Saturday.

Test results from both the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research here and the Pune-based National Institute of Virology have show negative for Mpox virus, the minister said.

Subramanian had earlier in the day told reporters that result was awaited for the sample that had been dispatched to the NIV while test result from King Institute ruled out monkey pox.

On October 31, upon his arrival at Tiruchirappalli airport from the UAE, during screening, the young man displayed fever symptoms and small skin lesions. Hence, he was taken to a government hospital.

Subramanian said the returnee had been frightened and hence left for his hometown of Valangaiman in Thiruvarur district. "This treatment is for his good and in order to prevent the spread of infection," the minister said.

Hence, he was brought back to the hospital by the authorities with police help and he has been receiving good treatment at the state-run facility. Further, Subramanian said that the test result from the government-run King Institute indicated Chickenpox and marked negative for presence of Mpox.

Screening at airports for passengers arriving from foreign countries is going on continuously in the state and international airports have dedicated isolated rooms.

Special wards are ready in government medical college hospitals, including those in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli, to provide treatment for Mpox, in case anyone tests positive for the infection, the minister added.