File photo of former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Former Home Secretary G.K. Pillai-led rights group on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) was denied police permission to release its report on the seventh anniversary of abrogation of provisions of Article 370. Meanwhile, several J&K parties, including National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced their protest programmes on the occasion.
“To our utter disappointment, the J&K police have disallowed the use of Sheri-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) for the release of our report. We are thus compelled to cancel the report release function,” said retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak.
The Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir is a rights group of eminent personalities, including former Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Madan B. Lokur and former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar.
This year, Mr. Pillai was scheduled to release the Forum’s annual report on August 7 in Srinagar. NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had agreed to attend the release function in Srinagar.
In the past reports, the Forum would highlight the issues of human rights violations like arbitrary detentions and sketch the political and security situation of the region where the Centre ended special status seven years ago. “But we are going to party offices and present our findings to the party heads, their MLAs etc.,” said Ms. Kumar.
Reacting to the administration denial of permission, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said, “The administration coercing SKICC authorities into denying the Forum permission to release its 2026 Human Rights Report is deeply disturbing and utterly deplorable.”
She said it only reinforce the perception that J&K has been turned into an open-air prison, where even documenting the truth has been criminalised. “It must have taken immense courage and perseverance for Ms. Kumar, Mr. Pillai and Mr. Kak to produce a report that reflects the ground realities in J&K,” said Ms. Mufti.
Meanwhile, J&K parties in Kashmir geared up to mark August 5 as a day of protest and reminder to the Centre to restore autonomous status of the region. The PDP said it will organise district-wise protests in J&K on the occasion. “We will organize protests on August 5, demanding the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, the reinstatement of Statehood, and the protection of our constitutional guarantees,” said PDP spokesman Zuhaib Yousuf.
NC Member of Parliaments Aga Ruhullah and Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan will hold special programmes in Delhi on the seventh anniversary of abrogation of special status of J&K. Engineer Rashid-headed Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) announced to observe August 5 as “black day”.
Meanwhile, the BJP will celebrate the occasion. “August 5, 2019, will be remembered as a defining moment that ended decades of uncertainty and paved the way for peace, prosperity, and equal rights in the region,” said BJP J&K spokesperson Altaf Thakur.
He said prior to the abrogation, J&K remained trapped in a vicious cycle of hartals, stone pelting, and terrorism. “Youth of J&K have chosen books over bullets and laptops over stones,” he added.
In the wake of the anniversary, security has been beefed up in J&K. Officials said additional deployments were made in several sensitive areas of the Kashmir valley.
Published – August 05, 2026 08:14 am IST
