Scores of Congress activists were detained by police in Jammu on Sunday during a march demanding the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The protest, held under the banner ‘Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq,’ marks the second consecutive day the authorities have prevented such rallies, following a similar crackdown in Srinagar on Saturday. The protest movement, led by the Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra and senior party leader G. A. Mir, is part of the party’s intensified campaign to restore democratic rights in the region, which lost its statehood in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370.

On Sunday, hundreds of Congress members gathered at the party headquarters in Shaheedi Chowk, the political nerve center of Jammu city, with plans to march towards Raj Bhawan to submit a memorandum to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. However, the police had set up heavy barricades surrounding the area and detained many of the protestors before the march could proceed. The Jammu and Kashmir Police have not yet issued an official statement regarding the detentions, but eyewitnesses reported a significant deployment of personnel and forceful obstruction of protestors as they attempted to move forward peacefully.

This clampdown has sparked criticism from Congress leaders, who accused the administration of stifling peaceful democratic expression. They argued that the government must allow opposition parties the space to voice public concerns, especially those regarding the constitutional and political future of the Union Territory. With the Lok Sabha elections concluded and statehood still unresolved, political tensions in the region are rising. The Congress has vowed to continue its struggle for the restoration of full statehood and has called upon the central government to respect the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.