Hundreds Protest in Delhi Demanding Statehood for Indian Kashmir

Kashmir Media Service

India protests.

Hundreds of people led by the chief minister of Indian Kashmir shouted slogans and staged a protest in the capital Delhi on Monday, demanding statehood for ‌the region, seven years after it was turned into a federal territory.

Protesters were stopped by police from staging their demonstration, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X, which had videos and pictures of people holding posters ⁠and shouting slogans.

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

In August 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government revoked the special status previously granted to Jammu and Kashmir, ending the region's limited autonomy and removing its statehood.

The move also led to the division of the former state into two federally administered territories: Jammu and Kashmir, comprising the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and Hindu-majority Jammu region, and Ladakh, a separate territory with a significant Buddhist population.

Since then, the Indian government has said that statehood for Jammu and Kashmir would be restored at an "appropriate time", but it has not provided a specific timeline.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, have repeatedly called for the restoration of statehood as soon as possible, saying it would fulfil a commitment made by the central government.

Leaders from Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, have criticised the protests, accusing organisers of attempting to divert attention from what they describe as governance shortcomings under Abdullah's administration.

The Kashmir dispute remains one of South Asia's longest-running conflicts. Both India and Pakistan claim the Muslim-majority region in full, while each administers parts of it. India has long accused Pakistan of supporting armed separatists operating in Indian-administered Kashmir, a claim Islamabad rejects.

Source: Reuters



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