On the fourth year of the abrogation of Article 370 on Saturday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that the biggest change after the abrogation is that the common people of Jammu and Kashmir are living life according to their own wishes.
He also asserted that “Pakistan-sponsored shutdowns” have also ended.
In 2019, the BJP-led union government had revoked Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
“Pakistan-sponsored shutdowns by terrorists and separatists, due to which schools, colleges and business establishments used to remain closed for about 150 days a year, have ended,” Sinha said, as quoted by PTI.
“The biggest change that is visible on the ground is that the common people of Jammu and Kashmir are living life according to their own wishes. Street violence has ended,” he said, adding that youth of Kashmir are enjoying late night-outs and spending time at the Poloview market and Jhelum riverfront, the popular public areas of the city which were recently renovated under the Srinagar Smart City project.
The L-G also said that the dreams of the youth of Kashmir have got wings now and in the days to come, their contribution to nation building will not be less than anyone. He added that Jammu and Kashmir will soon regain its lost glory for which it was known across the world.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday celebrated the fourth anniversary at Jawahar Nagar where several leaders and workers of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, led by general secretary organisation, J-K, Ashok Koul, participated in a meeting, while its rivals staged protests, with the Congress calling it a “black day”.
Congress members led by the party’s J-K chief, Vikar Rasool Wani, held a peaceful demonstration outside the party’s headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk, demanding restoration of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, protection of land rights and 100 per cent reservation for locals in jobs.
“We are observing August 5 as ‘black day’ since the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of our state into UTs (union territories) in 2019…we demand immediate restoration of statehood along with state subject laws,” Wani told reporters, as quoted by PTI.