Highlights

• Unease and growing anxiety was palpable in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, a day ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on whether a Constitution Bench should go into the question of Article 35A, which empowers the State legislature to define “permanent residents” and provide special rights and privileges to them.
• A complete shutdown was observed in the Valley on the call of the separatist Joint Resistance Leadership, comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik.
• Protests were also held in the Jammu region’s Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal Valley, where residents called for retention of the Article 35A.
• In Srinagar, several bodies of traders and transporters, including the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), the Kashmir Economic Alliance and the Federation of Chambers of Industries-Kashmir, held a sit-in at Lal Chowk.

Article 35A

• Article 35A gives special rights to the Jammu and Kashmir’s permanent residents. It disallows people from outside the state from buying or owning immovable property there, settle permanently, or avail themselves of state-sponsored scholarship schemes. It also forbids the J-K government from hiring people who are non-permanent residents.
• Article 35A was added to Article 370 by a Presidential order in 1954.

Article 370 of the Constitution grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, while Article 35A empowers the state legislature to define the state’s “permanent residents” and their special rights and privileges.

Source: The Hindu