A delegation of retired judges and jurists of India led by the International Council of Jurists President and Dr Adish C Aggarwala, will unfurl the national flag at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk on June 18.
Announcing this in New Delhi on Wednesday, Dr Aggarwala said the gesture was meant to demonstrate the ground reality to the international community that Jammu and Kashmir has returned to normalcy after the Narendra Modi government's brave decision to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution.
“The abrogation of Article 370, from Jammu and Kashmir, was not only wise but has also taken the wind out of Pakistan's sails on the Kashmir issue despite Pakistan's never-ending nefarious designs,” said Dr Aggarwala, who is also the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
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The delegation, led by Dr Aggarwala, is scheduled to commence its Jammu and Kashmir visit and local engagements from June 16 to 19, 2023. During this visit, it will visit public places including schools, colleges and hospitals. Dr Aggarwala will also address teachers and students of Law Department of the University of Jammu and Dogra Law College and members of J&K High Court Bar Association in Jammu on June 16.
The delegation will also meet the Lt Governor, Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, Director-General of Police, Lt-General Upendra Dwivedi, Northern Army Commander, Udhampur; GoC, Corps Commander 15, Srinagar and AoC, Air Force, Srinagar.
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Dr Aggarwala has co-authored, along with American author Ms Elisabeth Horan, a book titled 'Narendra Modi – Harbinger of Prosperity & Apostle of World Peace'.
For the past three and half years, many political leaders and activists are coming to the Valley to unfurl the Tricolour at Lal Chowk’s clock tower.
Lal Chowk, a business hub in Kashmir’s summer capital, is named after the central marketplace in Moscow Red Square. It is assumed a group of enthusiastic Communists in Srinagar named it Lal Chowk after Lenin seized power in Moscow in 1917. Over the decades Lal Chowk became a symbol of left-leaning Kashmiri nationalistic politics practised by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah when the Soviet Union was ascending power.
In 1980, Bajaj Electricals raised the clock tower in the middle of the Chowk. It initially served as an advertisement for Bajaj in Srinagar and later for years it was not renovated and it stopped functioning. Now a new clock tower is coming up and it is under construction under the smart city project.
At the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi this year on January 29 unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk. “By hoisting the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, the promise made to India was fulfilled today. Hate will lose, love will always win. There will be a new dawn of hope in India,” Rahul tweeted after hoisting the Tricolour.
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Jurists are unfurling the Tricolour to celebrate the Narendra Modi government's decision to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution.
The petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, are pending before the Supreme Court since 2019. On December 22 this year, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha agreed to examine and list pleas challenging the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. But then no progress was seen.
The petitioners, mostly mainstream political parties, have been saying that the central government is not interested in the hearing of the case. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah says the BJP government doesn’t want a hearing of petitions challenging the validity of revocation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court “as it would be impossible for it to defend abrogation of Article 370.”
