Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): As Article 370 abrogation completed five years on Monday, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the event will go down in history “not just as a dark day for J&K but a blot on Indian democracy”. The PDP President also claimed that she had been placed under house arrest.
“5th August 2019 will go down in history not just as a dark day for J&K but a blot on Indian democracy. The day when a semi autonomous state was disempowered, dismembered & robbed of everything special & sacrosanct to us. Since then the state has been threatened into silence which is touted as ‘peace and normalcy’ to the rest of the country. Five years on the siege continues but so does the unyielding defiance & resistance. We Kashmiris refuse to be erased & unpeopled,” Mehbooba said in a post on X.
The PDP President also claimed that she was placed under house arrest and her party office has been locked amid heightened security on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"I have been placed under house arrest while the PDP office has been locked," Mufti told PTI.
Mehbooba's daughter, Iltija Mufti also claimed that they had been placed under “illegal house arrest.
“If Kashmir is as normal as GOI claims it to be why does Jammu and Kashmir Police place us under illegal house arrest on 5th August every year ? The arrogance is such that SHO Nowgam has locked us up inside our own house & taken the keys away. Cops or new age jailers? You decide,” Iltija wrote in a post on X.
National Conference chief spokesman Tanvir Sadiq also claimed that he has been placed under house arrest.
"I have been detained at home, which was completely unnecessary. I needed to leave for some work, but policemen outside my gate prevented me from doing so. This is unwarranted and illegal," Sadiq said in a post on X. He also posted a picture showing police personnel outside the gate to his residence in Hassanabad area of the city.
"August 5 is and will always remain unconstitutional and illegal. On August 5, 2019, the BJP betrayed the people of Jammu and Kashmir. By ignoring the Constitution, the BJP undermined the constitutional, moral, ethical, and legal relationship with the J&K," the NC spokesman added.The Centre on August 5, 2019 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union.
The Centre also brought the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act that bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. (With PTI inputs)
- Read more: 'Ugly Reminder Of Complete Disempowerment Of Kashmiris': Sajad Lone On Article 370 Abrogation Anniversary
- Security Beefed Up In Jammu And Kashmir On 5th Anniversary Of Article 370 Abrogation
