Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday asserted that the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 is “not God’s verdict”. She said that her party PDP will continue its struggle for the restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“We don’t have to lose heart. We will continue our struggle. The Supreme Court is not God. The same Supreme Court had earlier said that Article 370 cannot be amended without recommendation of constituent assembly. They were also learned judges. Today some other judges passed the ruling. We cannot treat it as God’s verdict,” Mufti said.

Mehbooba also said that she will not lose hope and continue her fight in this regard.

“We do not have to lose hope. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have struggled for several years in which we have suffered losses. They want us to lose hope, accept defeat and sit back at home. This will not happen,” she said.

The PDP leader had earlier described the verdict as a “death sentence” not only for Jammu and Kashmir but also for the idea of India. She urged the people not to lose hope, emphasising that the struggle in the region has been a political fight spanning decades.

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah had also expressed his disappointment over the ruling and vowed to continue the struggle.

“Dil na-umid to nahin nakam hi to hai, lambi hai gham ki shaam magar shaam hi to hai (I grieve but I do not despair, the dusk of sadness is long, but it’s just a dusk, that’s all),” the National Conference leader said.

The Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision 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 the election to the Union Territory’s Assembly by September 30 next year.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R Gavai and Surya Kant unanimously endorsed the Union government’s August 2019 decision, calling it as the “culmination of the process of integration” of the erstwhile state into the Union of India.