SRINAGAR — Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Wednesday said the National Conference should not confine its protest to Jantar Mantar for only the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir but also raise the demand for the reinstatement of special status under Article 370 for the erstwhile state.
Soz, who was a member of the Lok Sabha when the NC was part of the NDA, defied the party whip and voted against the 13-month-old government of Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999, leading to its fall. He was expelled from the NC and he later joined the Congress.
“The National Conference should not (only) talk about statehood at Jantar Mantar. Our issue is not of statehood.
“Who can snatch statehood? Can anyone keep it a Union Territory forever? Whether it’s the prime minister or the home minister, no one can make the state of Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory; this is a temporary thing,” Soz told reporters after visiting the residence of NC leader and former minister Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, who passed away on Tuesday.
Asked if he has been invited by the NC to the proposed protest on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament, Soz replied in the negative.
“No, I don’t even have an invitation,” the former Union minister said in response to a question.
Soz said the real issue of the people of J-K is internal autonomy and they should fight for the restoration of Article 370. Sometimes they say among themselves that they will not be given anything, he said, adding that this is a wrong statement for the youth.
“Our young generation should have this in mind that we, a Muslim-majority state, acceded to India, which had a Hindu majority. Sheikh (Mohammad Abdullah) Sahab then deemed it appropriate that at that time there were eight crore Muslims in this India.
“Now there are 23-24 crore Muslims, that’s why we made the right decision to remain in India. But, our internal autonomy must definitely be restored on our own terms,” he added. — (PTI)