With speculation that Dr Farooq Abdullah is not likely to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar, the names of eminent political personalities from the Kashmir Valley as probable and suitable candidates are doing the rounds.
The buzz in political circles is that Supreme Court Senior Advocate Ashok Bhan’s name is being floated as a suitable consensus candidate of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, the alliance of parties of Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and civil society for Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency. Kashmiris across the socio-political spectrum seriously want to elect a prominent Kashmiri Pandit to represent Kashmiriyat in Parliament to silence anti-Kashmir forces.
Ashok Bhan is a practicing Senior Advocate, Jammu & Kashmir High Court, the Supreme Court of India, all the High Courts and various other courts in the country. He is a distinguished member of the Bar, associated with many national and prestigious bars. He has been elected many times as senior office-bearer/ executive member of the Supreme Court Bar Association in India. He is a member of International association of Jurists, and is a well-recognized conflict resolution expert and arbitrator in the country.
In his 45 years plus of legal practice, he has represented various Indian and multinational clients in both civil and criminal cases before various courts and tribunals in India. He is one of the top criminal and constitutional lawyers of India. He is a chamber door tenant with a leading law chamber in London. He is a fierce public speaker, knowledgeable on national and international affairs.
He has also represented the Republic of India as an international law expert along with an Indian parliamentary delegation, to UN General Assembly Sessions in New York. He was the first non- parliamentarian representative in UN General Assembly to raise the potential dangers to the global community posed by cross-border terrorism in South East Asia.
Being a leading senior advocate in India, Bhan is also an accomplished well Track- II diplomat and expert on geo-political conflict resolutions. As an expert, he has represented various parties including the Republic of India at the United Nation Human Rights Commission in Geneva for several years. He is also a distinguished fellow with the United Services of India (USI), a strategic think tank on geo-political affairs. He is chairman of think tank Kashmir (Policy and Strategy) Group.
He is also a regular columnist and a public speaker. He regularly speaks at various Universities and writes a column in daily publications. Bhan is a proud Kashmiri. He was instrumental in bringing the non-mainstream politicians to the high table of dialogue with PMs of India for initiating peace process in South Asia and peaceful solution to the Kashmir imbroglio and was convener of the Kashmir Committee.
The Bhan-led KPSG has been continuously holding a dialogue by way of intra-civil society webinars, meetings and interactions through social media platforms, emphasising on the dire need for giving a closure to the brutal societal devastation, death and destruction that has engulfed the larger South Asian region in general and Jammu & Kashmir in particular.
Bhan stands for engagement with people for peace, mutual coexistence and upholding of human values through revival of Kashmiri civilisational ethos.