Pakistan’s Defence Minister controversial remark, says ‘On same page with Cong,NC on Article 370’

September 19, 2024

New Delhi: Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has stated that Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif government and the Congress-National Conference alliance in India are aligned on the issue of restoring Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.

Asif suggested that there is a “high chance” of the Congress-National Conference alliance winning the ongoing Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir, potentially allowing them to come to power in the Union Territory.

His remarks were made during an interview with Geo News amid the Assembly elections in J&K, the first to be held since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 and after a decade. Asif’s comments were directed at the alliance’s stance on Article 370, which they have made a central issue in these elections. He stated that both Pakistan and the alliance are in favor of restoring the special status of J&K.

“They have made it an election issue. Pakistan and the Congress-National Conference alliance are on the same page in Jammu & Kashmir to restore Article 370,” he said.

The removal of Article 370 in August 2019 by the government led to the bifurcation of the former state into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir (with an Assembly) and Ladakh (without one). Back then, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the statehood of Jammu & Kashmir would be stored at an “appropriate time.”