SRINAGAR: The morning after Srinagar‘s coldest night of the season at -4.8 degrees Celsius, J&K exuded on Monday the warmth of a peaceful, accepting response to the Supreme Court upholding the Centre’s August 5, 2019 nullification of Articles 370 and 35A that took away the erstwhile state’s special status.
All the hand-wringing over a landmark verdict four years after the upheaval in J&K was left to the mainstream politicians, many of whom took to their social media handles to vent about justice allegedly being denied.
National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah put out a video of the gate to his Gupkar Road residence being locked from outside, claiming the administration was trying to prevent him from airing his views to the media.
“We had knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court because we were hoping for justice. We respect the Supreme Court. Our attempts won’t end here. But will we approach the courts again? That we will decide after legal consultations,” he said.
Omar said that “just as BJP continued their struggle for decades for the revocation of Kashmir’s special status, we will also continue our struggle for its restoration”.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote on X that the people of J&K “should not be disheartened”.
“J&K has seen several ups and downs. The SC’s verdict stating Article 370 was a temporary provision is not our defeat, but the defeat of the idea of India. I want to say this to the people of the country that many of you are celebrating (but) today J&K was converted into a jail, and all the shopkeepers were directed not to open their shops before 10am.”
Like Omar, the ex-CM said she and others were under house arrest. “This is a political war that has been going on for ages, and a lot of people have sacrificed their lives for this. We will not leave this; we have to come together and fight,” she declared.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha denied that restrictions targeting any leader were clamped ahead of the apex court’s verdict. “This is totally baseless. No one has been put under house arrest or arrested due to political reasons in J&K. It is an attempt to spread rumours.”
J&K Police, too, issued a statement clarifying that there was no directive to arrest or restrain anyone because of the impending court verdict.
Shops, other business establishments and government offices in Srinagar and elsewhere remained open throughout the day. Examinations at various educational institutions were also held as scheduled.
“The average Kashmiri has accepted the changes in J&K since August 5, 2019,” said M Sidiq Sofi, a teacher.
Mohammad Latif, who runs a restaurant in Srinagar’s historic Lal Chowk, said the people of the Valley had made peace with what happened just over four years ago, which was reflected in the majority of them appearing “unconcerned about the Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370”.
J&K People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone, one of the proponents of the Gupkar Declaration that resolved to protect the erstwhile state’s special status at all costs, termed the legal stamp on the nullification of Article 370 “disappointing”.
He said justice had yet again “eluded” the people of J&K.
Former Congress leader and Democratic Progressive Azad Party president Ghulam Nabi Azad said J&K “won’t be happy with it (the court’s verdict), but we have to accept it”.
“Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution represented the sentiments of our people. Both have gone. This will impact J&K’s economy, and our land will become expensive. Now, anyone from any part of the country can come to J&K and settle here,” he said.
Azad, who was CM of J&K for less than three years, warned that unemployment would increase with “limited jobs” being opened to “everyone”.
Separatist Hurriyat leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq spoke of the court’s verdict as being “sad but not entirely unexpected in the present circumstances”.
“Those people who at the time of Partition facilitated the accession of J&K and reposed their faith in the promises and assurances given to them by the Indian leadership must feel deeply betrayed,” he said.
All the hand-wringing over a landmark verdict four years after the upheaval in J&K was left to the mainstream politicians, many of whom took to their social media handles to vent about justice allegedly being denied.
National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah put out a video of the gate to his Gupkar Road residence being locked from outside, claiming the administration was trying to prevent him from airing his views to the media.
“We had knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court because we were hoping for justice. We respect the Supreme Court. Our attempts won’t end here. But will we approach the courts again? That we will decide after legal consultations,” he said.
Omar said that “just as BJP continued their struggle for decades for the revocation of Kashmir’s special status, we will also continue our struggle for its restoration”.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote on X that the people of J&K “should not be disheartened”.
“J&K has seen several ups and downs. The SC’s verdict stating Article 370 was a temporary provision is not our defeat, but the defeat of the idea of India. I want to say this to the people of the country that many of you are celebrating (but) today J&K was converted into a jail, and all the shopkeepers were directed not to open their shops before 10am.”
Like Omar, the ex-CM said she and others were under house arrest. “This is a political war that has been going on for ages, and a lot of people have sacrificed their lives for this. We will not leave this; we have to come together and fight,” she declared.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha denied that restrictions targeting any leader were clamped ahead of the apex court’s verdict. “This is totally baseless. No one has been put under house arrest or arrested due to political reasons in J&K. It is an attempt to spread rumours.”
J&K Police, too, issued a statement clarifying that there was no directive to arrest or restrain anyone because of the impending court verdict.
Shops, other business establishments and government offices in Srinagar and elsewhere remained open throughout the day. Examinations at various educational institutions were also held as scheduled.
“The average Kashmiri has accepted the changes in J&K since August 5, 2019,” said M Sidiq Sofi, a teacher.
Mohammad Latif, who runs a restaurant in Srinagar’s historic Lal Chowk, said the people of the Valley had made peace with what happened just over four years ago, which was reflected in the majority of them appearing “unconcerned about the Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370”.
J&K People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone, one of the proponents of the Gupkar Declaration that resolved to protect the erstwhile state’s special status at all costs, termed the legal stamp on the nullification of Article 370 “disappointing”.
He said justice had yet again “eluded” the people of J&K.
Former Congress leader and Democratic Progressive Azad Party president Ghulam Nabi Azad said J&K “won’t be happy with it (the court’s verdict), but we have to accept it”.
“Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution represented the sentiments of our people. Both have gone. This will impact J&K’s economy, and our land will become expensive. Now, anyone from any part of the country can come to J&K and settle here,” he said.
Azad, who was CM of J&K for less than three years, warned that unemployment would increase with “limited jobs” being opened to “everyone”.
Separatist Hurriyat leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq spoke of the court’s verdict as being “sad but not entirely unexpected in the present circumstances”.
“Those people who at the time of Partition facilitated the accession of J&K and reposed their faith in the promises and assurances given to them by the Indian leadership must feel deeply betrayed,” he said.