Hope SC expedites hearings on petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370: Omar Abdullah

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hoped that the Supreme Court will expedite the hearings in the petitions challenging the Centre's decision to revoke Article 370 and reorganise the erstwhile state into two union territories.

Nearly four years after the government abrogated the provisions of Article 370 that bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud will take up a batch of pleas challenging the decision for hearing on July 11.

"It is better late than never, we have been eagerly waiting for this day. The hearings will start on July 11 and we hope that they would be expedited as soon as this case is addressed in the Supreme Court and a verdict will out soon," he told reporters in Ganderbal, 25 kilometres from Srinagar.

The former chief minister said his party has no hopes from the BJP-led NDA government to restore the pre-August 2019 status of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We have been saying this from day one that whatever has been snatched from us on 5 August 2019, we should not have any hope from the present dispensation to bring that back to us.

"Our fight is long but in a peaceful manner and through democratic and constitutional ways. We want to get back whatever has been snatched from us," he added.