NEW DELHI: Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu, who was in the national capital for treatment, was put under house arrest after he returned to the Valley on Tuesday. The Centre had restricted his movement after its decision to scrap Article 370 on August 5 which granted special status to J&K.
Mattu was allowed to visit Delhi for treatment. He is suffering from a rare form of blood cancer which needs a monthly treatment. On his visit to Delhi, Mattu had spoken to several media organisations here criticising the government’s decision of clampdown in Kashmir and the detention of mainstream leaders.
Mattu had claimed that the Centre was handling the Kashmir situation the wrong way. He had said scrapping Jammu and Kashmir’s special status had caused an “existential crisis” because it formed the very basis of its identity.
Mattu, who is the spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference, was kept under arrest in his Mayor residence in Srinagar while the president of his party, Sajjad Gani Lone is under detention at a sub jail on the banks of Dal Lake at the Centaur Hotel.