Normal life came to a grinding halt on Sunday in the Kashmir valley on the first day of the two-day shutdown called by Separatists on the issue of the petitions against the Article 35A that will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday.
Representational Image. (Photo: AFP | TAUSEEF MUSTAFA)
Normal life came to a grinding halt on Sunday in the Kashmir valley on the first day of the two-day shutdown called by Separatists on the issue of the petitions against the Article 35A that will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday.
However, there was hardly any response to their shutdown call in Jammu and Ladakh regions where business remained as usual.
The shutdown call for 5 and 6 August was given by Separatists against any “tinkering” with the Article 35A that prohibits people from rest of the country to own property in Jammu and Kashmir.
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The Kashmir-centric political parties, including the National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), were also against abrogation of the Constitutional provision. The Congress was also in favour of continuing status-quo but the J-K unit of the BJP was demanding its abrogation.
Shops in the valley remained closed and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
The state government has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking adjournment of hearing of the case in view of the ongoing process for Panchayat and local bodies elections in the state.
The National Conference and the CPM have filed applications for being included as parties during the hearing.
People in Jammu and Ladakh have been demanding abrogation of the controversial provision that has encouraged separatist tendencies in the state. While the demand for separate state for Jammu has been raised from time to time, people of Ladakh are demanding separation from Kashmir and union territory status for the region.
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