Hundreds protest in Delhi demanding restoration of autonomy for occupied Kashmir

Hundreds of people, led by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, protested in Delhi on Monday to press for the restoration of statehood and autonomy for India-occupied Kashmir, according to a monitored public feed based on Dawn World reporting.

The demonstrators raised slogans and carried placards as they gathered in the Indian capital, marking seven years since New Delhi revoked the region’s special status by removing Article 370 in 2019. Abdullah said on X that police stopped the protest from going ahead as planned. Videos and images he shared showed participants holding signs and chanting in support of their demands.

“This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us,” Abdullah wrote in the post.

India’s government revoked the region’s partial autonomy in August 2019, stripped it of statehood and split the former state into two federally administered territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Since then, officials have said statehood would be returned at the “appropriate time,” but have not announced a deadline.

Abdullah and his party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, have repeatedly called for statehood to be restored as soon as possible, arguing that the federal government made that commitment after elections. His deputy chief minister, Surinder Choudhary, also joined the criticism, saying people from Jammu and Kashmir had come to Delhi to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of their promise.

“It has been nearly a year and a half, and neither the prime minister nor the home minister has fulfilled that promise,” Choudhary said, according to Press Trust of India.

Leaders from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, described the protest as an attempt to distract from what they say are shortcomings in Abdullah’s administration.

The protest in Delhi highlights the continuing political dispute over the future of the Himalayan region, where calls for the restoration of statehood remain central to the local leadership’s agenda.

Source: Dawn World - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017041/hundreds-protest-in-delhi-demanding-restoration-of-autonomy-for-occupied-kashmir