Indian Congress vows to restore IOJK statehood ahead of polls

New Delhi: A day before local elections in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK), India's major opposition party, Congress, pledged to restore statehood to the disputed territory.

According to Indian media, three-phased elections begin in the occupied Muslim-majority region from Wednesday, IOJK's first regional assembly polls in a decade and the first since New Delhi abrogated the semi-autonomous status of the disputed region and imposed direct rule in 2019.

Launching a tirade against the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for abolishing Article 370 , Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that occupied Kashmir's rights were stripped, its statehood revoked, and it was reduced to a Union Territory.

He vowed that Congress would restore the rights of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Khera accused Modi of tyrannical politics in occupied Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.

Meanwhile, endorsing Modi's obstinacy and fascism on the Kashmir issue, Union Minister Amit Shah asserted that Article 370 is now a part of history and cannot be restored.

IOJK's special semi-autonomous status — constitutionally enshrined power to control its affairs — meant only those who descended from residents of the territory in 1934 could vote and own property.

That changed in 2019 when Modi's government scrapped those rules and imposed direct governance from New Delhi. The move was an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.