Hundreds protest in Delhi demanding statehood for IIOJK

• IIOJK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah says police stopped protesters from staging their demonstration

 NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people led by the chief minister of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) shouted slogans and staged a protest in the capital Delhi, India, on Monday, demanding statehood for the region, seven years after it was turned into a federal territory.

In August 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the special status of IIOJK by abolishing Article 370 of the constitution. Thereby, the state's partial autonomy was revoked, its statehood was removed, and it was divided into two federally controlled territories: Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu-dominated Jammu and a Buddhist territory of Ladakh.

Police stopped protesters from staging their demonstration, IIOJK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X, which had videos and pictures of people holding posters ⁠and shouting slogans.

"This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us," Abdullah said in the post.

We were stopped from getting to Jantar Mantar & stopped from protesting peacefully for what is rightfully ours but we were not silenced. This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us. pic.twitter.com/tSMwtPLmqI

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 20, 2026

The Indian ⁠government has since said statehood to the Himalayan region will be restored at the "appropriate time", but has not given a deadline.

Abdullah and his party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, have said statehood should ⁠be restored at the earliest, in keeping with the government's promise.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party leaders contend the protest was an attempt to divert ⁠attention from what they call governance failures of Abdullah's government.