SRINAGAR: Hurriyat Conference chairman and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is among 52 political leaders invited by J&K’s ruling party National Conference (NC) for statehood protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, has asserted that that protest should go beyond statehood and include restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, rights of political prisoners, and peaceful conflict resolution.
In his Friday sermon at historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Mirwaiz confirmed that he has received an invitation from NC president Farooq Sahib for attending the statehood protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.
The NC is planning a protest on the first day of parliament’s monsoon session at Jantar Mantar New Delhi to press for restoration of statehood to J&K. The party has invited 52 leaders of the country including Mirwaiz for the protest.
The NC has applied for the permission for the protest and is yet to get go ahead.
Referring to abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and downgrading and bifurcation of erstwhile J&K state by centre, Mirwaiz said after the 2019 unilateral changes brought by the Government of India, the State of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded to a Union Territory and its constitutional safeguards snatched from the people, leaving them vulnerable and disempowered.
The Hurriyat chairman said any effort by any political alliance, organisation or individuals working for the restoration of the usurped rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir , if based on sincerity , is the need of the hour.
He said the protest agitation should go beyond statehood and include restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, rights of political prisoners, and peaceful conflict resolution.
“It is the foremost responsibility of the NC government towards people of Jammu and Kashmir, who gave it a mandate on the clear promise that, once elected, it would revive the pre-2019 status of J&K, including restoration of statehood and Article 370 and 35A,” Mirwaiz said adding the agitation cannot be limited to the restoration of statehood, but has to be for all the seized safeguards and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The restoration of Article 370, which granted special status to J&K, was one of the main planks in NC's campaign for the 2024 Assembly elections.
“In fact, it should include the rights of our political prisoners and youth languishing in jails for years without trial or continued incarceration despite getting bail, and for people’s longing for lasting peace and life with dignity by conflict resolution,” added Mirwaiz.
Other than Mirwaiz, NC has also invited Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Asaduddin Owaisi, Y S Jagam Mohan Reddy, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Arvind Kejriwal, M A Baby CPI(M) General Secretary, D Raja of CPI, Kapil Sibal, BSP chief Mayawati, BRS President K. Chandrashekar Rao, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, J&K Apni Party Chief Altaf Bukhari, J&K Congress chief G A Mir, J&K BJP president Satpal Sharma, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone and J&K Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam for the statehood protest in national capital.