Scores of employees under the banner of Employees Joint Consultative Committee (EJCC) staged a protest demonstration on Wednesday at Pratap Park here against the attempts to abrogate Article 35-A.Holding placards and shouting slogans, the employees led by its chairman Aijaz Khan took out a peaceful protest march from the Pratap Park up to the Ghanta Ghar (clock tower) at Lal Chowk Srinagar, said an EJCC spokesman.As the employees reached at the clock tower, Aijaz Khan addressed the employees and urged the Government of India (GoI) for the immediate dismissal of the petition challenging the validity of Article 35-A in Constitution of India.Khan said that the “abrogation of special status (Article 35A) is a direct attack on the autonomy of the Jammu and Kashmir”.Khan said that the protest was aimed to warn the government over attempts to abrogate Article 35-A.“We won’t allow the government to abrogate Article 35-A in the state at any cost as the Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and has its own constitution and powers,” he said.Khan demanded to quash the petitions filed in the Supreme Court against the special status (Article 35-A) of Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides, EJCC Chairman, other leaders including Sheikh Aijaz Makhdoomi, Sajad Rashid Khawaja, Javid Ahmad Akhoon, Istiyaq Ahmad Beigh, Tasleema Subhan, Farooq Ahmad Bhat and Akthar Muzafar Reshi (President Fisheries department) also addressed the rally.Later the protest march dispersed peacefully near the Ghanta Ghar.Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents. (GNS)