2020 will be deadline for Jammu and Kashmir’s ties with India: Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday lambasted BJP president Amit Shah over his recent statement that Article 35A of the Constitution which grants special rights and privileges, including owning immovable property, jobs and scholarships to permanent residents of the state will be abrogated by 2020.

She said, “He has said Article 35A will go in 2020. Then that year will also be Jammu and Kashmir’s deadline to the country,” she said while speaking to reporters after filing her nominations to seek election to Lok Sabha from home constituency Anantnag.

She also criticised senior Congress leader and former Union minister and Sadar-e-Riyasat (head of the state) of J&K Dr Karan Singh for his assertion that the special status to the State was offered by the

Government of India in difficult circumstances and was not there to guarantee its Muslim majority character. “Karan Singh’s father Maharaja Hari Singh had himself laid the foundation of Article 370. Today, he is singing a different tune,” she said.