With the venues for the Independence Day functions wearing festive looks across Jammu & Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on August 15 said the Union Territory (UT) was being recognised for its peaceful atmosphere and the change brought four years ago, while referring to reading down of Article 370 in 2019.
Addressing a well-attended function at the Bakshi Stadium, first time since 1989, L-G Sinha highlighted the change in Kashmir’s situation and growing tourist footfall in Jammu & Kashmir. “Over 1.27 crore tourists visited J&K this year so far. The year has witnessed a 59% increase in foreign tourist arrivals. Jammu & Kashmir is being recognised as a place of peace and nature’s beauty. I am sure that negative travel advisories imposed on J&K by some countries will be lifted shortly,” L-G Sinha said.
L-G Sinha reiterated that terror was on its last leg in Kashmir. Without naming Pakistan, he said the neighbouring country acted as a cancer for the society. “The J&K government will provide every possible opportunity to youth to excel in various fields,” he said.
He said the administration was committed to peace, prosperity and development in J&K. “New roads, rail lines, power projects, airport terminals, cinema halls, river fronts etc. are coming up,” he added.
Long queues, with women and children in them, were seen outside the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar to attend the I-Day function. The Tricolour was unfurled in all districts’ headquarters and the government Departments across the region. No restrictions were imposed on the movement of people or internet services in the Valley.
However, no top regional leaders from the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were seen attending the official function at the Bakshi Stadium. Official sources said no former Chief Minister was invited by the L-G administration.
Meanwhile, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), uploaded the picture of the Tricolour. “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments; By narrow domestic walls...Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Yaum-e-Azadi mubarak ho,” former Chief Minister Mr. Abdullah wrote.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also posted a picture on X, with Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru in it. “Happy Independence day to my fellow countrymen. May the idea of INDIA that binds us together triumph.(sic),” she wrote.
