Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 7 : National Conference (NC) today termed the August 5 as the black day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir and equated the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 with the tribal invasion.
The joint statement issued by the NC Lok Sabha members Muhammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi termed the abrogation of Article 370 with the tribal invasion of the State in 1947.
“The unilateral and immoral act of back tracking on the constitutional assurances to the State by New Delhi is the same as tribal invasion of Kashmir following the freedom from imperialists. The insidious tribals cared the least about the aspirations of the people the State,” they said.
The two MPs described the scraping of the Article as act of aggression by the Government of India.”The act of unilaterally back tracking on the constitutional assurances is no less than an aggression on the State,” they added.
The two MPs said with the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35-A, the Centre has permanently branded itself as “undependable and deceitful”.
“The honour of the people of the State has been played with, given the fact that people of the State never allowed themselves to get swayed by the two nation theory,” they added.
The NC leaders said the people of the State will never allow the onslaught of New Delhi on the State’s identity to annihilate its characteristics.”The stealing of State’s rights through unilateral and unconstitutional means is no less than an aggressive deceitful conquest and thievery,” they said.
They rubbished the Centre’s claims that doing away with special status and reorganising the State into two union territories would open new vistas of development.
“By that analogy many of the eastern states should be degraded to union territories … the people of the state (Jammu and Kashmir) live a much better life than others living elsewhere in India,” the statement added.