Srinagar: On Saturday, in what could rake up the controversy surrounding Article 370, People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti said that India’s relation with Jammu and Kashmir will be over if the article is scrapped. Article 370 of the Constitution gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister further asserted that the Muslim-majority state would not prefer to be a part of India if Article 370 is revoked.

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Mufti said “If you break that bridge (Article 370)...then you will have to renegotiate the relationship between India-Jammu and Kashmir, there will be new conditions...A Muslim majority state, would it even want to stay with you?...If you scrap 370, your relation with Jammu and Kashmir will be over,”. The PDP chief has time and again evoked the issue of Article 370 along with Article 35A of the Constitution, asserting that any tampering in these two will lead to repercussions. Last year, Mufti had drawn flak by saying that nobody would even carry the corpse of the national flag in Kashmir, if any changes is made in Article 35A of the Constitution. Article 35A empowers the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to define the state's permanent residents and their privileges.

She was quoted as “Any tampering with Article 35(A) won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the National Flag in Kashmir, if it happens. Let me make it very clear,".

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