After receiving backlash from the political parties, the Army in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday cancelled a seminar, which was aimed at raising awareness about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and other topics. The development came a day after the Army sent invitations to the media for a seminar on the subject "Navigating legal frontiers: Understanding Indian Penal Code 2023 and the quest for Uniform Civil Code".

The seminar was slated to take place at Kashmir University Auditorium on March 26. Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister and vice president of the National Conference, questioned the Army's engagement in a "divisive" matter like the UCC in a "sensitive" location like Kashmir, sparking criticism from the regional political parties.

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"Is it appropriate for the Indian Army to get involved in the divisive issue of the uniform civil code & that too in a sensitive area like Kashmir? There is a reason the Indian Army has remained apolitical & areligious. This ill-advised UCC seminar is a threat to both these basic tenets," Abdullah said in a post on X.

He said going ahead with the seminar risks opening up the Army to charges of getting involved in the "murky world" of politics coupled with "interfering" in religious matters. Tanvir Sadiq, the chief spokesperson for the NC and a fellow party member requested that the Election Commission of India (ECI) "assess the appropriateness" of the Army addressing a topic that is central to the BJP manifesto during the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) period.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also criticised the Army for conducting the seminar.

"What we are seeing is the continuation of the trend of ‘Naya Kashmir’ and Akhir Kab Tak campaigns in which the Army as an institution was seen as playing a partisan role and directly interfering in the political affairs of J-K," PDP spokesperson Najmus Saqib said as quoted by news agency PTI.

"Post backlash, we had seen some systemic changes, but unfortunately the seminar by the India Army as an institution depicts how far the lines between politics and security apparatus have blurred in J-K," he added.