Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu region observed a complete shutdown to protest the hearing of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court on Friday, reported Kashmir Reader. A shutdown was also observed in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Pir Panjal region.
Article 35A gives the Jammu and Kashmir legislature the power to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide them with special rights and privileges.
The Joint Resistance Leadership, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, called for the two-day shutdown. All shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while vehicles stayed off the roads in Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu.
In Srinagar’s Nowhatta, Safa Kadal, Rainawari, Khanyar and Maharaj Gunj police station areas, authorities imposed restrictions to prevent protests, while partial restrictions were imposed in Maisuma and Kral Khud police station areas.
The state government has also deployed large contingents of police and paramilitary forces across the Valley, reported The Indian Express. Trade bodies have called for daily protests across the Valley and several people marched towards Lal Chowk in Srinagar for a sit-in protest on Thursday despite heavy security. Train services on the Baramulla-Banihal track were suspended as a “precautionary measure”.
Geelani continued to be under house detention while Farooq was detained at his house in Nigeen. Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairperson Yasin Malik went into hiding to avoid arrest.
“Despite curbs, curfews, house arrests, complete strike across J&K [Jammu and Kashmir] as people express their strong resentment [and] protest against the nefarious design of tinkering with state subject laws,” Farooq tweeted. “No amount of coercion will deter people from fighting this assault with all our might [and] conviction!”
Petitions against Article 35A
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of petitions and posted the matter for hearing on January. The court had earlier adjourned hearing on May 14 and then again on August 6, when the state government urged the Supreme Court to adjourn the matter, citing potential law-and-order problems and upcoming panchayat and local body elections in the state.
In all, four petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of Article 35A on the grounds that it was never presented before Parliament and was implemented on the President’s orders in 1954. The petitioners argue that the state became an “integral part of India” when it acceded to the Union, so there is no question of special status or treatment.
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