The abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under the Article 370 is an end to the privileged status of the state's elite instead, said a local Dogra youths' outfit on Sunday, hoping the Centre's step would herald normalcy and all-round development of the troubled state.
The amendment of the Article 370 has ended the "special status" of the elite families of Jammu and Kashmir, who had been directly or indirectly ruling the state and blackmailing the Centre for the last seven decades, said Team Jammu, an outfit of Dogra youths.
In the name of the special status, this handful of elite families had made the entire state their hostage and subjected people of Jammu to the injustice and discrimination in every sphere of life, including development, employment and business," said Team Jammu's chairman Zorawar Singh Jamwal.
"The abrogation of the Article 370 is a historic decision by the government of India. It will bring permanent normalcy in the troubled State and usher a new era of development," he added.
Jamwal, however, also demanded constitutional measures on the pattern of the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh to ensure job security of locals and to protect their cultural identity.
Jamwal highlighted the "festering injustice" to West Pakistan refugees and Balmiki community members, who, he said, have stayed deprived of the status of the state's "permanent resident" and entailing civil rights, including the right to vote in state elections and employment in the state government jobs by virtue of the now repealed Article 35-A.
"There was no example of such human rights violations in a civilized society," he said.
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Hailing the state's reorganisation into two Union territories of J&K and Ladakh, Jamwal said the measure has given the Jammu people a new ray of hope of their development, which was denied due to the rampant corruption and nepotism in the state's ruling elite.
The people of this region have been rightly demanding a separate Jammu state due to the injustice meted out to them by the successive Kashmir-centric governments," he said.
"We hope under the new arrangement, equal opportunities would be provided to everyone without any regional discrimination, he added.