Struggle for statehood of J&K will continue: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said the Valley has gone 200 to 300 years back as people can’t speak their minds for fear of arrest.

Azad, along with senior Congress leaders, addressed a gathering in south Kashmir where he criticised the revocation of Article 370 by the BJP government in 2019 and said the struggle for statehood will continue.

“People can’t speak. If they speak, they’ll face jail. They can’t walk freely because somebody will get them killed. Many innocent people were killed.”

Referring to the revoking of Article 370, Azad said nobody could have imagined that J&K will be divided into two parts. “The state that is known across the world and discussed in the United Nations and many other countries was downgraded. Usually, UTs are upgraded to states and here the state was downgraded it’s just like a DGP being downgraded to the rank of SHO or chief minister being reduced to an MLA.”

“Our struggle will go on till everything is restored,” he said.