Protest against Delimitation draft: Former J&K CMs Abdullahs, Mufti under house arrest again

Three former chief ministers of Jammu & Kashmir were put under house arrest ahead of a protest march planned by the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) against the recent draft of the Delimitation Commission, which proposed six additional assembly constituencies in Jammu and one in Kashmir.

PAGD, an alliance of regional parties formed in October 2020 to strive for the restoration of special status and statehood of J&K, rejected the commission's proposal terming it as 'biased and politically motivated.'

The PAGD, led by Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, had called for the protest today but the administration blocked the Gupkar road, where Abdullah, his son Omar and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti reside. The police also put armed vehicles in front of their gates and barricaded the road to their homes.


"Good morning and welcome to 2022. A new year with the same J&K police illegally locking people in their homes and an administration so terrified of normal democratic activity. Trucks parked outside our gates to scuttle the peaceful. PAGD sit-in protest. Some things never change," Omar Abdullah wrote on twitter. However, some members of the NC managed to protest outside their party headquarters, where they raised slogans rejecting the delimitation commission's proposal and demanded restoration of the special status of J&K.