Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Marking the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, senior leaders of the National Conference and other regional parties on Tuesday staged a protest in Srinagar, denouncing the Centre’s 2019 decision and calling for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood.
The march was stopped by police at the party headquarters.
The ruling National Conference (NC) workers assembled at the party headquarters Nawa-i-Subah and called for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Raising slogans like "August 5, 2019, decisions are not acceptable", "Black laws are not acceptable" and "Restore Articles 370 and 35A", the protesters tried to march towards the Lal Chowk city centre but were not allowed to step out of the party office complex by police, who shut the gates of Nawa-i-Subah.
The political leaders have described August 5 as “black day”.
“August 5 marks a black day not just for Jammu & Kashmir, but 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,” PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti posted on X.
She said J&K 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.”
Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone said August 5 will always be a "brutal reminder of undermining of democracy" and "an ugly example of selective targeting".
"This was the day when whatever little was left from the glories of the past was taken away. 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 post on X.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari said August 5 is a "painful reminder of a dark moment in our recent history".
"On this day in 2019, the sudden and sweeping constitutional changes by the Centre left deep scars on the hearts and minds of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
"I have said it before and I will say it again: 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," Bukhari wrote on X.
He said the region has gone through a prolonged phase of violence and bloodshed, and the people have suffered immensely over the past several 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 in order to address their issues and grievances and move towards a lasting resolution," Bukhari said.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Monday said militancy in Jammu and Kashmir will not end until the relations between India and its neighbouring country improve.
When asked about the ongoing encounter in Kulgam district, Abdullah said, "How can you say that militancy has ended when the encounter is going on?"
On August 5, 2019, the centre abrogated Articles 370 and 35A, which granted special status and special privileges to J&K residents, and downgraded and bifurcated the erstwhile J&K state into two Union Territories --- Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).
On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of Article 370, even as it ordered that Assembly elections be held in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024 and its statehood be restored "at the earliest".
