PM has assured me that article 370 will be respected : Mehbooba Mufti

“The basis of our agenda of alliance is that status quo of article 370 has to be maintained and that none of us can go against that. Our agenda is - no fiddling with status quo and the PM assured that article 370 will be respected,",” CM Mufti told reporters after her meeting with PM Modi in the Parliament complex.

"I told the PM that Jammu and Kashmir is going through a tough phase. People fear their identity is under threat...The message should go that Jammu and Kashmir is the pride of India, the taj (crown) of India and its special status should remain," she said.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench is currently hearing a petition against Article 35-A provision that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the state’s ‘permanent residents’ and their special rights and privileges.

The article is considered fundamental to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

CM Mufti, along with leaders of mainstream parties in J&K, have been opposing  the abrogation of Article 35-A.  She  had warned last month that there will be no one to shoulder the Indian flag if the state’s special status is tampered with.

The PIL pending before the top court was filed in 2014 by the NGO ‘We The Citizens’ seeking that the article be struck down. The petition alleges that the state government, under the guise of the article, discriminates against non-residents in matters of government jobs or buying property. GST, Article 35A and special status: A complex story unfolds in Jammu & Kashmir. Click here to read.