india

Updated: Aug 02, 2019 02:03 IST

A National Conference (NC) delegation led by party president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and apprised him of the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir, in the backdrop of a buzz that the Centre was preparing the ground to revoke Article 35A of the Constitution that gives special privileges to permanent residents of the state.

“I accompanied @JKNC_ President Dr Farooq Abdullah Sb & Hon MP Justice Masoodi Sb to a meeting with Hon @PMOIndia this morning. During the course of the meeting we briefed Modi Sb about our assessment of the current situation in the state,’’ party vice-president Omar Abdullah tweeted shortly after the meeting.

The National Conference chief reportedly told PM Modi that any move to revoke Article 35A could worsen the situation in the state, which is currently under President’s rule.

“We requested him that no precipitous steps of any sort should be taken that may result in situation in the state, particularly the valley, worsening. We specifically asked him to let subjudice matters be settled by the courts & other matters be settled by an elected government,” Omar Abdullah, who was also part of the NC delegation, said in another tweet.

As many as seven petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A, but it has deferred hearings at least six times since December 2018.

The National Conference delegation also conveyed to PM Modi that state is without an elected government from more than a year, so assembly elections should be held at the earliest.

The Bharatiya Janata Party pulled out of the Peoples Democratic Party-led coalition government in the state in June last year.

Over the past week, every move by the Centre has been seen as a precursor to the revocation of 35A. On Monday, it was an internal police department memo asking superintendents of police (SPs) to provide details of mosques in their locality.