Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Monday hailed the Supreme Court's verdict upholding the abrogation of Article 370, saying “we honour and respect the judgement in letter and spirit”.

However, former president of J-K Congress G A Mir said the party is going through the verdict and would issue a statement accordinly. He said the apex court should have given a time frame for the restoration of the statehood and ensured special safeguards for the jobs and land for the locals of the Union Territory.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Centre's decision of August 2019 to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct elections to the Assembly by September 30 next year.

The apex court also directed that statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir be restored at the earliest.

“We are proud of our country, constitution and our judiciary which is one of the best in the world. We respect and honour the judgement of the supreme court in true letter and spirit,” Raina told PTI.

He said the Central government has time and again made it clear that it is ready to hold assembly elections but the decision has to be taken by the Election Commission, while the Prime Minister and Home Minister are promise-bound on the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.

J-K BJP's chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi said it is better not to give a political colour to the supreme court judgment which was in accordance with the wishes of the people of the entire country.

“This is a historic judgment as it put at rest the questions raised on the complete integration of J-K. This fight was not political or community-centric but there are some people in Kashmir whose politics runs on this (Article 370),” Selthi said.

Another BJP leader Brig (Retd) Anil Gupta said only conflict beneficiaries would be unhappy by the supreme court verdict.

"Those claiming that people of J&K are unhappy with the Supreme Court judgment are peddling lies. They can speak for themselves. Who has given them the mandate to speak on behalf of the entire people? Only conflict beneficiaries will be unhappy,” he wrote on X.

Congress leader Mir, when contacted, said the party is evaluating the verdict and will come out with a statement accordingly.

However, he welcomed the time frame given for the holding of assembly elections and said a timeline should have been given for the restoration of statehood as well.

Mir said the Supreme Court should also have recommended the safeguards on land and jobs for the locals of Jammu and Kashmir.

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