Former J & K CMs Mehbooba Mufti & Omar Abdullah taken into custody

August 5: Hours after Home Minister Amit Shah declared scrapping of Article 370, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was detained at a guest house in Srinagar. In this connection, an order by a First Class Executive Magistrate stated that , “Your activities are likely to cause a breach of peace, keeping into consideration your recent activities that may cause a serious law and order situation.”

Shortly after detaining Mehbooba Mufti, another former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was also detained in Srinagar. People’s Conference chairman and former BJP ally, Sajjad Lone, along with Imran Ansari was also taken into custody later on Monday evening. Some more arrests have been made, the officials said, without sharing details.

Hitting out at the government, Mufti in an audio message on Twitter said Parliament which gave a lot to Jammu and Kashmir “has snatched everything from it like thieves”. “Today is the blackest day in Indian democracy. The Indian Parliament just like thieves today snatched everything it has given,” she said. The government earlier in the day revoked the state’s special status, provided under Article 370, via a Presidential order.

Reacting to the developments, Omar Abdullah that the government’s decision was “unilateral and shocking” and was a “total betrayal” of the trust that the people of the state had reposed in India when it acceded in 1947.