Srinagar, July 19 (Reporter) Stepping up its campaign for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, the Congress is holding a protest march in Srinagar today—just days after party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging immediate action on the issue. The party said that J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra, along with AICC general secretary G.A. Mir and other senior leaders, will lead a peaceful procession around noon in Srinagar to reiterate the demand for the complete restoration of statehood to J&K. The march will start from Congress headquarters in Srinagar and culminate at the divisional commissioner's office, where senior party leaders will submit a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner for onward submission to the Prime Minister through Lt Governor of J&K, a Congress spokesman said. The protest will not be limited to Srinagar, but Congress is planning to hold protests in Jammu, and a sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on July 22, a day after the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins. “The campaign for the restoration of statehood has been ongoing for several months, and the joint letters from the party's top leadership have injected fresh momentum into the movement,” a senior leader said. Kharge and Rahul Gandhi's appeal to the Prime Minister to introduce legislation for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament has sparked a fresh wave of optimism among politicians in the region. Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its special status and downgraded to a Union Territory on August 5, 2019, following the abrogation of Article 370. Since then, political parties have consistently been demanding restoration of statehood. In a joint letter, the Congress leaders said that downgrading a state to a Union territory lacks precedent in independent India and reminded the Prime Minister of his promises of restoring J&K's statehood. The Prime Minister has "on multiple occasions, personally reiterated the government's commitment to restoring statehood," the letter read, pointing out at least two instances last year when PM Modi promised to restore the region's status. For the past five years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have consistently called for the restoration of full statehood, the Congress leaders said, calling their demand both legitimate and firmly grounded in their constitutional and democratic rights...////...