Junaid Azim Mattu, Mayor of Srinagar and spokesperson of J&K People’s Conference, has reportedly been put under house arrest. Mattu is amongst various other politicians in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to have been detained by the government of India in the wake of abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to the state.
Earlier, former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah were detained by the J&K police in the wake of law and order situation in the state. Since Article 370 was abrogated, the government of India fearing unrest in the valley had suspended the ongoing Amarnath Yatra and put the politicians under house arrest including bureaucrat turned politician, Shah Faesal.
As per a news report, Mattu was in New Delhi for medical treatment planned to challenge the government of India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Supreme Court.
“Our party believes the abrogation of Article 370 is a travesty of justice that strikes at the very root of the state’s constitutional relationship with the Union. Article 370 is the pivot around which the state’s sense of unique identity existed,” Mattu said.
He further added that his party believes that Article 370 and Article 35-A is sacrosanct and non-negotiable. “We have consulted senior-most constitutional experts and luminaries and will be contesting the move in the Supreme Court. Our party chairman (Sajjad Gani Lone) has, before he was arrested, appealed to the people to maintain calm and not resort to any violent means of expressing their anguish and sense of loss.”
The central government is committed to restoring peace and development in the strife-torn Kashmir valley and it is, for this reason, it ordered the preventive detention of politicians fearing law and order situation.
