No compromise with J&K's special status: Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said there will no compromise with the special status of the state.

Mufti, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House, was speaking to reporters amid the raging debate over revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A that accords Special Status to Jammu and Kashmir, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The Chief Minister said the ruling PDP (People's Democratic Party) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) have committed in their agenda of alliance that the special status of the state will not be touched.

"The agenda of our alliance is that there is no compromise on Article 370," she said.

The article, added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, accords special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and empowers its legislature to frame any law without attracting a legal challenge.

The provision prohibits all Indians - except people from Jammu and Kashmir - from purchasing immovable property in the state, getting government jobs and availing state-sponsored scholarship schemes.

The article has been challenged by a Delhi-based NGO, 'We the Citizens', in the apex court where the central government had said last month there was need for a "larger debate" on the issue of declaring the article unconstitutional.

The NGO contended that the President could not have amended the Constitution by the 1954 order and it was supposed to be a temporary provision.

On Thursday, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh over the issue.

--IANS

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