Article 370: Ladakh politicians, journalist move Supreme Court against revocation of special status.

Two politicians and a journalist from Ladakh have submitted a plea to the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision to revoke the Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir.

An impleadment application is filed seeking permission to be made party in a case that is already being heard.

The three applicants Qamar Ali Akhoon, Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain have filed the request in a plea filed in the Supreme Court in 2019 by National Conference leaders Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi.

Akhoon was the MLA from Kargil constituency in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Assembly before it was dissolved. Karbalai is a Congress leader from Kargil district in Ladakh, while Hussain is the editor of Greater Ladakh newspaper.

The application submitted that the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act, which annulled the special status, have “eroded the legislative and executive organs and have denied the constitutional rights” of Jammu and Kashmir.

“It imposes a dictatorial regime wherein the entire democratic process has been annulled and the inhabitants of the region have been left at the mercy of administrators who do not possess mandate of inhabitants of the region,” the application stated.

In March last year, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme court had held that there was no need to refer the batch of petitions to a larger bench. The matter has not been heard since then.

(Inputs from Scroll.in)