Jammu: Asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is living under the shadow of China and Pakistan, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday castigated the central government for “illegally removing” Article 370 in 2019 and said a “weak J and K” is not in the interest of the nation.
Addressing a well-attended public rally in Banihal — the hometown of Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, Azad said he wants the country to prosper and move forward in the path of development, taking along Jammu and Kashmir.
“I have returned to J-K as the situation became worse here after Article 370 was removed illegally and the historic and beautiful state was bifurcated (in August 2019) by this (BJP-led) government after 75 years (of its accession to India), destroying our identity,” he said.
Azad, who resigned from the Congress in August last year, said Article 370 was meant to benefit both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
After its abrogation, the changes in laws resulted in loss of business, contracts for minor minerals and growing unemployment besides the land being taken away from the possession of the occupants under the garb of anti-encroachment drive, the former J and K chief minister said.
