Govt scraps Article 370, proposes to split J&K into two Union Territories

Decision could throw up constitutional questions, including sanctity of terms of Jammu & Kashmir's accession to Union of India, and is likely to be challenged in SC

The Narendra Modi government on Monday moved to scrap provisions under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants a special status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir in the Union of India.

It has decided that Jammu and Kashmir would be turned into a Union Territory with a legislature, similar to Delhi and Puducherry, and the Ladakh division would be made a separate Union Territory without legislature, akin to Chandigarh and most other Union Territories.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti termed the decision “illegal and unconstitutional”, and said, with the scrapping of Article 370, India was now