Article 370: Supreme Court verdict on pleas challenging curbs in J&K today

A bench of Justice N V Ramana, Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice B R Gavai had reserved the judgement on November 27 last year

The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Friday its verdict on a batch of pleas, including that of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad challenging the restrictions imposed in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) following abrogation of provisions of Article 370.

A Bench of Justice N V Ramana, Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice B R Gavai had reserved the judgment on November 27 last year.

On November 21, the Centre had justified restrictions imposed in J&K after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and said that due to the preventive steps taken, neither a single life was lost nor a single bullet fired.

The Centre had referred to terror violence in the Kashmir Valley and said that for the past so many years terrorists were being pushed through from across the border, local militants and separatist organisation had held the civilians captive in the region and it would have been “foolish” if the government would not have taken preventive steps to secure the lives of citizens.

Visit of envoys

The government on Thursday said the objective of taking envoys of 15 countries to Kashmir was to help them see the efforts to bring back normalcy in the Valley after abrogation of Article 370 and rejected criticism that the visit is like a guided tour.

The envoys from 15 nations including, from the US, began a two-day government-facilitated trip to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. The Congress accused the government of “adopting double standards” by organising “guided tours” to J&K for foreign envoys, but not allowing Indian politicians to visit the Union territories. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the visit of envoys was an attempt by the government to “normalise its clampdown” in the Valley, daring the Centre to allow the dignitaries to meet the detained political leaders.

The National Conference  said it was “disappointed” with the way the government brought envoys from various countries to “endorse” its “claims of normalcy” in the union territory.

PDP expels eight leaders

The PDP on Thursday expelled eight party leaders for going “against the will of the people” by engaging in parleys with the government. “PDP expels leaders for going against the will of the people,” the party said in a press release posted on its official Twitter handle.