The ongoing five-day Assembly session in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed stormy scenes on Thursday when MP Engineer Rashid’s brother and legislator Sheikh Khursheed, came to the Well of the House with a banner demanding the restoration of Article 370 and the release of all political prisoners.
The banner displayed by the Khursheed read, “We demand restoration of Article 370 and 35A. Release of political prisoners.”
Soon after, a scuffle broke out between the BJP MLAs and National Conference (NC) MLAs as the former tried to take the banner away from Khursheed. As the ruckus continued in the Well, Sajad Lone, Waheed Para and a few more NC members also jumped in, in support of Khursheed, Indian Express reported.
The BJP legislators were then marshalled out of the Assembly.
This comes a day after the Assembly passed a resolution on J&K special status, seeking a “dialogue” with the Union Territory’s elected representatives for restoration of the same as well as constitutional guarantees, “and to work out constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions”. BJP MLAs had stormed the Well of the House on Wednesday as well when the resolution was moved.
On Thursday, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Waheed Para and Fayaz Mir and Peoples Conference’s Sajad Gani Lone brought forth another resolution seeking the restoration of the special status. The resolution was also signed by Sheikh Khursheed.
“This House unequivocally demands the immediate restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A in their original, unaltered form, and calls for the reversal of all changes introduced by the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. We further urge the Government of India to respect the constitutional and democratic sanctity of Jammu & Kashmir by reinstating all special provisions and guarantees intended to preserve its distinct identity, culture, and political autonomy,” the resolution read, IE reported.