Newly-inducted J&K Minister Mir Saifullah pledges that NC will ‘restore pre-1953 position, get back J&K flag’

Newly-inducted National Conference (NC) minister Mir Saifullah. File. | Photo Credit: ANI

Ruling National Conference (NC) minister Mir Saifullah on Monday (November 9, 2026) said the party has pledged to fight for the “return of the snatched special status and the separate flag” for Jammu and Kashmir.

“Whatever has been snatched will be taken back. It was the NC who got pre-1953 status, Article 370 and separate flag for J&K. The struggle for their return has begun. We all start from zero but will reach 100 one day. The struggle has started,” said Mr. Saifullah, a legislator from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.  

Mr. Saifullah made the statement at a rally held at Kralpora of the Trehgam constituency, Kupwara, for the first time since he was inducted in the Cabinet of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on October 27.

Mr. Saifullah said Kashmir was reduced to a Union Territory (UT) brazenly on August 5, 2019. “The downgrading and division of J&K on August 5, 2019 was ‘zulum’ (injustice) that no part of the world has seen. It was a stab on out chest. Our flag and constitution were taken away. All the parties should join hands to restore the flag of J&K,” he added.  

He said the NC was for everyone and “will get Statehood and Article 35A restored”. “Only the NC can do it,” he added.

Terming the NC “a movement and not mere a party”, Mr. Saifullah the party founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah is the man behind the multi-dimensional development in the society. “We had no schools, no hospitals, no roads, no universities, no water supply. All this was worked on by NC’s Sheikh Abdullah.  

Published - November 10, 2026 10:35 am IST