Shutdown in IoK ahead of top court hearing on property rights

A complete shutdown is being observed in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) on Thursday to register protest against the Indian government’s attempts to abrogate Article 35A of the constitution.

Tensions in the occupied territory have worsened before a major Supreme Court hearing on the troubled region, which residents fear could allow Indians from outside Kashmir to buy property in the state and get government jobs.

The Indian Supreme Court will hear arguments on Friday on a legal challenge against a 1954 constitutional provision, Article 35A, that reserved the special privileges for Kashmir permanent residents.

Residents seeking Kashmir’s independence or merger with Pakistan, along with business and civil society groups, have opposed scrapping Article 35A.

The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to annul the constitutional provisions that grant special status to Kashmir.

Call for the strike across IoK was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Muhammad Yasin Malik.

Meanwhile, Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism martyred one more youth in Bandipore district on Thursday, raising the toll to three in less than 24 hours in the occupied territory.

The youth was killed by troops during a cordon and search operation at Parra Mohalla in Hajin area of the district.