Srinagar, 20 July (H.S.): Opposition PDP leader Iltija Mufti on Monday described the ruling National Conference protest in Delhi over restoration of statehood as a lacklustre and deliberately understated event.

Instead of a lacklustre, deliberately understated and soft-pedalled one-day event at a random Delhi club without even a whimper about Article 370, imagine a protest in Jantar Mantar reverberating with slogans for reinstituting Jammu and Kashmir's Special Status, Iltija said.

She said it was unfortunate that the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir is choosing to normalise an illegal and disempowering act of abrogation of Article 370.

The PDP, which was one of the parties invited by the NC, did not join the protest.

The party had laid down conditions to join the NC protest in Delhi, calling for including the demands of restoration of Article 370, release of political prisoners and lifting the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami in the protest agenda.

In a letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said that

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar