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Protests mark sixth anniversary of Article 370 revocation in Kashmir
Clamour for restoration of statehood grows louder as parties demand the Centre give timeframe; Supreme Court to take up related PIL on August 8.
Protests and condemnation on Tuesday marked the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.
Though Valley-based political parties termed it a black day, the Congress held protests in all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir for the restoration of statehood. The ruling National Conference and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held protests in Srinagar.
“It’s a black day for us. Not only were our rights snatched six years ago but our state was also divided into two UTs. On the sixth anniversary, we are holding protests in all 20 districts of J&K and demanding the restoration of statehood at the earliest,” J&K Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra said.
The National Conference held a protest at its party headquarters in Srinagar against the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A. Party leaders and workers carrying placards raised slogans demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and constitutional rights.
The clamour for statehood has grown louder and political parties have been demanding that the Centre give a timeframe.
A petition filed in the Supreme Court for the restoration of statehood is scheduled to be heard on August 8.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who was not allowed to take out a march along with party workers in Srinagar, said: “August 5 marks a black day not just for Jammu and Kashmir, but also for the entire nation. On this day, the Constitution was subverted not by foreign hands, but from within, by a brute majority in the heart of our democracy. The unconstitutional abrogation of J&K’s special status was not an end, it was the beginning of a broader assault on constitutional values,” the former chief minister posted on X.
She said that Jammu and Kashmir was turned into a laboratory its people disempowered, its land dispossessed, its demography targeted. “What many saw as a local issue was a warning for all. Today, that warning is unfolding across the country. In Bihar (SIR) threatens to disenfranchise lakhs. From Tamil Nadu to Kashmir non-local voters are being added en masse, paving the way for demographic manipulation and electoral distortion. If India does not wake up now, what began in J&K will soon define the nation.”
Peoples Conference president and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone put out a defiant message, calling August 5 a “brutal reminder of the undermining of democracy and an ugly example of selective targeting”. Reflecting on the day that altered Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional status, he said: “Whatever little was left from the glories of the past was taken away.”
However, he still voiced belief in justice and eventual restoration, asserting, “I will never lose hope. We will get what has been taken away. If the glories don’t last, the inglorious won’t last either,” Lone said in a statement.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, who was the first leader from the Valley to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah after the revocation of Article 370, termed the anniversary “a painful reminder of our recent history”.
“New Delhi must uphold the dignity and democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The restoration of these rights is not an act of generosity, it is a constitutional and moral obligation,” he said, adding the region had gone through a prolonged phase of violence and bloodshed. “People have suffered immensely over the past decades, and therefore they long for peace, justice, and dignity — fundamental aspirations that can no longer be ignored. This is the right time for New Delhi to initiate a genuine, inclusive, and meaningful dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir to address their issues and grievances and move toward a lasting resolution.”
