Jammu/Srinagar, Aug. 5 -- Protests and celebrations marked the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying the "wounds have not yet healed" and reiterating his resolve to continue seeking the restoration of the region's special status and statehood.
The ruling National Conference and Opposition PDP held protests in all districts to mark the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, demanding the restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Scores of NC leaders, MLAs, and workers, led by minister Sakina Itoo, assembled at the party headquarters, Nawa-i-Subah, here and held a protest march. The protesters, carrying placards in support of Article 370 and special status, tried to take the march out of the party office complex but were not allowed to by the police.
Similar protests were reported from other districts of the union territory.
Speaking to reporters, Itoo, the Minister for Education and Social Welfare, said, "We demand that our special status and rights, which were snatched from us, be restored. Our party has been protesting peacefully for the restoration of our rights since then."
PDP leader Iltija Mufti, along with party leaders, including MLA Pulwama Waheed Para, and spokesperson Mohit Bhan, took out a protest march at Sonwar here.
Raising slogans demanding the restoration of Article 370, the PDP leaders tried to march towards the Dalgate area, but were stopped by the police.
Speaking to reporters, Iltija said the party wants to protest peacefully.
"I want to remind the prime minister and the home minister that we will fight for it. We want to protest peacefully for it. You are snatching even that right from us. The police here are doing real terror," she said.
She said the way Gen-Zs "brought down the government to their knees", "we will compel them the same way".
"We will make sure that you will have to restore our flag, our law, our constitution, and everything else," she added.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha dismissed the protests held by NC and PDP, saying he "did not see" any demonstrations.
"I did not see any (protest). If I see, I will talk to you (about it)," the LG told a reporter when asked about protests by the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Sinha said August 5, 2019 -- the date marking the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A -- ended the "discriminatory system" in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, Omar Abdullah said the "wounds" of the people had not yet healed seven years after the abrogation of Article 370, asserting that the Centre's promise to restore statehood to the Union Territory remained unfulfilled.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.