Srinagar, Feb 13: Facing flak for having called for a two-day strike even when it was not clear whether the Article 35-A was listed for hearing before the Supreme Court, the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Wednesday withdrew tomorrow’s strike.
It was sort of misfire as JRL had asked people to observe two day strike over being given to understand that SC was to hear 35 A petition today.
That was not the case and lots of people except JRL and their team of “worthy lawyers” knew it.
In a statement Wednesday evening, JRL said that the protest strike call against hearing of Article 35-A case in Supreme Court of India on 14th February, “has been withdrawn after the lawyers conveyed to the leadership that in the cause list issued by the Supreme Court at 7 pm today, it is not listed for hearing tomorrow.”
“The Kashmir Bar Association led by senior lawyers Mian Qayoom, Zafar Shah, Zaffar Qureshi, Mohammad Ashraf and others are in New Delhi defending the case at the Supreme Court on behalf of the people of disputed J&K,” said the JRL, adding they are in touch with the leadership.
JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, said the senior lawyers of Bar will be present at the Supreme Court for the whole day tomorrow as well and will closely monitor the developments and update the leadership about it.
“Leadership reiterated that people of Jammu and Kashmir will forcefully resist every challenge by New Delhi to change the demography of the state and warned the authorities that if anything adverse to the interests of the people of J&K and its disputed status is announced through the courts a mass people’s agitation will be started instantly across the state and the responsibility of the consequences of that will be entirely on those forcing us to react,” read the statement.
Earlier in the day, even as it drew only a partial response, normal life was nevertheless hit in Kashmir due to a shutdown called by separatists to protest against the legal challenge to Article 35-A and Article 370 of the Constitution, which grant special privileges to Jammu and Kashmir.
Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutional validity of these laws.
On Wednesday, owing to the strike, shops, fuel stations and other business establishments remained shut in Srinagar while public transport was off the roads. However, private vehicles could be seen plying in several areas of the city.
In some uptown areas even the commercial vehicles plied which also led to traffic snarls in Batamaloo, Hari Singh High Street, Amirakadal areas where some roadside vendors also went about their business as usual.
The reports of shutdown were received from other district headquarters in the Valley, though peripheries in the countryside also afforded only partial response to shutdown call.
