Kashmir LIVE updates: Article 370 to be scrapped; J&K, Ladakh to be UTs

Kashmir LIVE updates: The revocation of Article 370 was announced by Home Minister Amit Shah in the Upper House of Parliament today, ending 70 years of stated policy on the state. The proposal came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting of Union Cabinet morning. Government plans reorganisation of jammu and Kashmir as union territory, Shah informed Rajya Sabha. Shah urged members of parliament to discuss the legislation that seeks to end autonomous status for Kashmir, which allows only residents to buy property and hold state government jobs.

The resolution comes after political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chairman Sajad Lone, were placed under house arrest as strict restrictions were imposed in the Kashmir Valley from early Monday morning.

Panic gripped the Valley after the government imposed restrictions and curfews in several districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Schools and colleges will remain closed today. There would be a complete bar on holding any kind of public meeting or rally. The government imposed restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPC in Srinagar district with effect from Sunday midnight as a precautionary measure, officials said.

ALSO READ: Explained: What are Articles 370 and 35A? Why they are important for J&K

The government has cited 'precautionary measure' as the reason beefing up security deployment and imposing curfew. Meanwhile, regional political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have warned against any attempt by the Modi government to scrap Article 35A, a legislative provision that allows its assembly to qualify its permanent residents and their rights, and Article 370, which provides special status to the state, claiming that it will further heighten tensions in the Valley. The parties on Sunday unanimously resolved to fight any attempt to abrogate the constitutional provisions.

On Friday, the government suspended Amarnath Yatra and urged tourists to leave the Valley at earliest.