Hundreds of people, led by Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, staged a protest in New Delhi on Monday, demanding the restoration of statehood to the region seven years after it was reorganised as a federally administered territory.
In August 2019, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revoked the special status of the region by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution. The move ended Jammu and Kashmir’s partial autonomy, revoked its statehood and split the former state into the federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
According to Abdullah, police prevented demonstrators from holding their planned protest in the capital.
In a post on X, he shared videos and photographs showing protesters carrying placards and chanting slogans in support of restoring statehood.
“This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us,” Abdullah wrote.
The protest comes as political leaders in the region continue to press the Indian government to restore full statehood following the constitutional changes introduced in 2019.