Article 370 Restoration & release of political prisoners Must Be Main Agenda: Mehbooba Mufti Outlines Conditions for PDP Joining Jantar Mantar Protest
SRINAGAR — JULY 18, 2026: In a major political development in Jammu and Kashmir, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has conditionally declined an invitation to join the proposed opposition protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
In a detailed letter addressed to National Conference (NC) patron Farooq Abdullah dated July 18, 2026, Mufti stated that after careful internal deliberations, the PDP will only participate if the restoration of Article 370 and the immediate release of political prisoners are placed at the very heart of the agitation’s agenda. She strongly asserted that confining the protest solely to the demand for statehood would be a grave injustice and a “shameful surrender” that would effectively put the final nail in the coffin of the region’s larger constitutional struggle, thereby legitimizing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) illegal actions of August 5, 2019.
Expressing deep concern over the political trajectory in J&K, Mufti criticized the current National Conference-led government under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, accusing it of becoming a “mute spectator” and complicit in normalising the BJP’s narrative by reducing a profound constitutional battle to a narrow demand for statehood. She reminded Farooq Abdullah that the overwhelming electoral mandate the NC received was built on the explicit promise to fight for the restoration of special status and residuary powers.
Highlighting ongoing local grievances—such as the summary dismissal of government employees, arbitrary detentions, the harassment of socio-political organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami, and environmental degradation—she called on the NC leadership to convene an all-party meeting to chart a meaningful roadmap. While extending her best wishes for the Jantar Mantar event, Mufti reiterated that the PDP will not settle for one-time symbolic gestures, insisting that a genuine political process must address the restoration of J&K’s fundamental identity, rights, and dignity.