SRINAGAR — Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday said the Supreme Court’s verdict on abrogation of Article 370 was ”sad but not unexpected”.
The top court unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and directed restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir ”at the earliest” and set a September 30, 2024 deadline for holding assembly elections there.
”It’s sad but the verdict was not unexpected particularly in the present circumstances,” the Mirwaiz told PTI.
He said people who facilitated accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947 must be feeling deeply betrayed.
”Those people who at the time of the Partition facilitated the accession of J&K and reposed their faith in the promises and assurances given to them by the Indian leadership must feel deeply betrayed.
For the rest, the State as it existed in August 1947 remains divided on the ceasefire line, and hence continues to be a bleeding humanitarian and political issue, begging redressal,” he added.
The Hurriyat chief was released from house arrest in September, four years after he was taken into detention in the wake of abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019. — (PTI)