Article 370 is now history, time for PoK to be liberated: VHP leader

NEW DELHI: Welcoming the Supreme Court judgement on the revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the international working president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and senior advocate, Alok Kumar, said the landmark ruling would go down as a tribute to saffron ideologue and the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Kumar said in a statement that with the special constitutional privileges for the erstwhile state under Article 370 now consigned to history, the Centre should now shift focus to liberating Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

"Now the only unfinished agenda in Jammu and Kashmir is the liberation of Pak-Occupied-Kashmir from the clutches of Pakistan. We are confident that a strong India and a determined Government will be able to free the POK soon," the VHP leader said.

Reaffirming that Jammu and Kashmir has been and will always be an integral part of India, Kumar said, "Today's judgement underlines that the Letter of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1947-48 was final, valid and irrevocable. Due to some political misunderstandings, the then political leadership had given a special status to Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370."

The VHP leader said he was hopeful that the ongoing development will continue unabated in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, on Monday, the apex said Article 370 was only a 'temporary provision' of the Constitution to facilitate the merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India.

The landmark ruling effectively ruled out the restoration of Article 370 in the erstwhile state. A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, unanimously upheld the validity of the Union government's 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which conferred the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, affirming that Article 370 was a 'temporary provision'.