Srinagar: Dozens of performing artists and film-makers on Monday staged a protest in Srinagar against attempts to abrogate Article 35-A of the constitution that confers special rights on permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
The protesters said that Kashmir’s distinct cultural identity is linked to its constitutional special status and any encroachment or tempering with it will amount to loss of their identity.
“We are already facing a lot of victimization in the field of art and if we lose our constitutional safeguards, worst times are ahead,” said a senior artist.
The protest was organized at Press Enclave to demonstrate against the efforts being made by vested interests to get the article 35-A abolished through “legal” track, they said.
Being an important constituent of Kashmir’s civil society, the artists said they cannot remain mute spectators to the “mischievous design behind the present move.”
“Therefore, we have decided to be part and parcel of the struggle launched to safeguard the special status of the state,” they said.
