Srinagar, August 5 (ANI): Security has been stepped up across Jammu and Kashmir in view of the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, with authorities putting in place a multi-layered security grid across the Union Territory.
Security was also beefed up in the border areas of the Union Territory.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) conducted security checks along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban. Kulgam Police also intensified vehicle checking and identity card verification on NH-44 as part of heightened security measures.
In August 2019, the Central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, effectively ending the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
In 2019, on this day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled a resolution in Rajya Sabha to scrap Article 370 and launched a scathing attack against opposition parties, including National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and Congress, accusing the “three families of looting” Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah had said, “Under the umbrella of Article 370, three families looted Jammu and Kashmir for years. Leader of Opposition (Ghulam Nabi Azad) said Article 370 connected Jammu and Kashmir to India, but it’s not true. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Jammu and Kashmir Instrument of Accession on October 27 1947. Article 370 came in 1954.”
The scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and barred people from the rest of India from buying land in the former state. The article also limited the powers of the Parliament to make laws for Jammu and Kashmir.
According to officials, permission has not been granted for protest demonstrations at several locations, and security agencies are maintaining close vigil to prevent any disruption to public order.
Speaking on the seventh anniversary, BJP MP Ghulam Ali Khatana said, “After PM Narendra Modi took command, he understood the Jammu and Kashmir situation. He fixed the loopholes. He fixed the underlying problem. Because of 370, the police were under the state. If women married outside, they had no rights to their parents’ property. OBCs had no status… So today you have seen that everywhere, be it religious pilgrim tourism, other tourism, the visit of G20 countries, and the arrival of international investors. Many things have been simplified and made easy. And recently, elections were held in which Omar Abdullah Sahab won with a plus 60 percent voter turnout…So, in a broad sense, people’s mental stability and confidence have increased.
Development has occurred all around.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Anand Dubey said he expects the Centre to grant statehood to Jammu and Kashmir so that the UT can develop more rapidly in the future.
“There was an atmosphere of joy and jubilation throughout the country, and years of hard work were fulfilled that day, because it had been the dream of our supreme leader, the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray, to have Article 370 removed from Jammu and Kashmir. Today, seven years have passed. First, I congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their tremendous progress.
Tourism has significantly increased, and a full-time government is slowly being formed there. We only wish that the differences that have arisen between the Governor and the Chief Minister are reduced, and Jammu and Kashmir is granted full statehood, so that it can develop more rapidly in the future,” Dubey said. (ANI)”
