Statehood alone not enough, restore all rights usurped after August 5, 2019: Mirwaiz
Srinagar : In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that the Kashmiri people have been left more vulnerable and disempowered since the BJP-led Indian government revoked the territory’s special status on August 5, 2019.
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According to Kashmir Media Service, addressing a large gathering in Srinagar, Mirwaiz said that the unilateral actions of August 2019 stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its constitutional safeguards and reduced it to a Union Territory.
“As such, any effort by any political alliance, organisation or individual working for the restoration of the usurped rights of the people of J&K is the need of the hour,” he said.
Mirwaiz said that the National Conference’s proposed protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi should not remain confined to the demand for restoration of statehood alone. He stressed that it was the foremost responsibility of the NC government to honor the mandate it received by fulfilling its promise to restore IIOJK’s pre-August 5, 2019 constitutional status, including statehood and Articles 370 and 35A.
He added that the demands should also include the rights of political prisoners and youth who, have been languishing in jails for years without trial or continue to remain incarcerated despite getting bail.
Mirwaiz said the larger objective should be ensuring lasting peace, dignity and a peaceful resolution of the conflict over Kashmir.
