Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh to be two Union Territories, Centre scraps Article 370

Soldiers stand guard in the night in Srinagar. (AP)

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian government that grants Special Status to Jammu and Kashmir and tabled a Bill that proposes the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories — Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir.  While the Union Territory of Ladakh will be without a legislature, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be with the legislature.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed Rajya Sabha on Monday that the President has issued a gazetted order called the Constitution Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019, which shall supersede the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 as amended from time to time.

Now Ladakh will be a UT. See this. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/gTwePUHHor

— Liz Mathew (@MathewLiz) August 5, 2019

PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti has lashed out at Centre after it scrapped Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir saying India has failed in keeping its promise. “Today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy,” tweeted Mufti adding that the decision to scrap Article 370 is illegal and unconstitutional.

The clampdown in the state escalated early Monday midnight when the Centre imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in Srinagar district. Along with this move, mainstream party leaders – NC leaders Omar and Farooq Abdullah, and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, among others – were placed under house arrest and mobile, broadband internet and cable TV services were entirely shut down.

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The government order also said no public meetings or rallies would be allowed and there would be “no movement of public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed”. Identity cards of service officials would be considered as movement passes in various areas. The developments come days after the evacuation of tourists and Amarnath Yatris from the state and have triggered panic in the Valley.