National Conference’s political affairs committee meets first time after revocation of J&K’s special status

A meeting of the political affairs committee (PAC) of the began here on Saturday, the first such gathering of the top decision-making body of the party after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August last year.

The PAC meeting began at party headquarters Nawa-i-Subah here under the chairmanship of National Confenence president Farooq Abdullah, a NC leader said.

He said party’s vice president Omar Abdullah and other senior leaders, including general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, are present in the meeting.

The leaders from the Jammu region, who are part of the PAC, have joined via video conference, the NC leader added.

This is the first meeting of the NC’s political affairs committee after the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August last year and divided the erstwhile state into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Last week, Farooq Abdullah held meetings with over a dozen party leaders, in batches over three days, at his Gupkar residence here. The leaders, whom the NC president met, were under detention for the past one year and the party had challenged their detention in a court. However, the government had submitted in the court that those leaders were not under custody and were free to move anywhere.