Ex-J&K CMs Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah arrested

Former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were arrested on Monday, hours after the government scrapped the special status granted to the state of Jammu and Kashmir by modifying Article 370 of the Constitution, reported PTI quoting officials. Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference leaders Sajjad Lone and Imran Ansari have also been arrested.

The development comes after the Rajya Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Bill, 2019 that divides the state into two union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Revoking the special status has been a longstanding demand of the BJP that has made it an election promise.

Mainstream parties in Kashmir have been opposed to any changes in Article 370 that provides special status to the state. “Today the people of Jammu & Kashmir who reposed their faith in institutions of India like parliament & Supreme Court feel defeated & betrayed. By dismembering the state & fraudulently taking away what is rightfully & legally ours, they have further complicated the Kashmir dispute,” Mufti had earlier tweeted.

Following a week of uncertainty with heavy troop deployment and the suspension of the Amarnath Yatra, Mufti, Abdullah and Lone were put under house arrest Sunday evening. The J&K administration has also imposed restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPC in Srinagar district with effect from August 5 midnight. The restrictions remain in force until further orders.

The two leaders had condemned the government’s move, warning the decision will have “far-reaching and dangerous consequences”. Abdullah said that the government’s decision was “unilateral and shocking”. Mufti, whose PDP had allied with the BJP earlier, called it the betrayal of the trust people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: The Indian Express