Jammu and Kashmir state flag removed from Civil Secretariat in Srinagar, Tricolour flies with pride

Twenty days after Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status, the state flag was removed from Civil Secretariat building in Srinagar on Sunday. Only flag flying high was the national tricolour.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir was permitted to hoist its own state flag in addition to the national flag of India under Article 370 which granted special status to the state.

 However, not all government offices have taken off the Jammu and Kashmir state flag yet. 

The flag, which was hoisted along with the tricolour every day atop the civil secretariat, the seat of the government, was due to be removed on October 31 when the law bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories came into effect.

The state flag was adopted by Jammu and Kashmir state constituent assembly on June 7, 1952. The three stripes represented the state's three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Centre had on August 5 abrogated Article 370 provisions in the Constitution which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir for residency and government jobs. Parliament approved the resolution in this regard and also passed the bill on the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories. Later on August 9, President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, bifurcating the state into two Union Territories, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

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