Upping ante against efforts to abrogate Article 35A, the Jammu and Kashmir contractor’s coordination committee has decided to suspend all developmental works on August 5 and 6, while as the gold dealers Friday shut their shops, workplaces and industrialists held protest demonstrations at several places in Kashmir.
“It is not an issue of any particular individual or any particular community it is a matter of life and death for people of Jammu and Kashmir. Over the years, we have witnessed how our special status have been eroded be it taking our fiscal autonomy by implementing Goods and Service Tax regime or changing nomenclature of head of the state from prime minister to chief minister,” said chairman J&K Contractor Coordination Committee Ghulam Jeelani Purza.
“Now we won’t tolerate taking away Article 35A which gives us a special right of being exclusive owners of the land/property in our state,” Purza said.
He said they were ready to take “extreme steps” to safeguard the special status.
Meanwhile, gold dealers and workers closed shops and demonstrated at the wholesale gold market at Hari Singh Street after Friday prayers.
“There will be serious ramifications if Article 35 A is tinkered with. We want to make it amply clear to New Delhi that they should stop testing our patience. Every now and then there are attempts being made to weaken our special status. If the Article 35A is tinkered with, we are ready for an all out war,” said president Gold Dealers Union Bashir Ahmad Rather.
He said that gold dealers will abide by the protest programme of the Joint Resistance Leadership and business community to “fight nefarious designs of RSS-led groups” to dilute our special status.
Industrialists of Khonmoh estate, led by the president of the Industrialists Association Zubair Butt, held a demonstration inside the premises of the estate.
“Our protest is against attempts being made to dilute special status. We won’t tolerate this and are ready to give sacrifices to protect Article 35A,” Butt said.
The demonstrations were held in response to a call by representatives of 27 Kashmir-based trade organizations, which recently and announced a weeklong protest programme till August 7.