President Kovind gives assent to law dividing J&K into 2 Union Territories

New Delhi, Aug 09: The President, Ram Nath Kovind gives assent to 'The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019' that bifurcates the State of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories (UT), to be known as the UT of Ladakh and UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 370 and Article 35A, cleared in the parliament earlier this week, have defined the state's relationship with the Union for seven decades now, were effectively rendered null and void.

Jammu and Kashmir remained on high alert though restrictions were lifted in the Valley to allow people to offer Friday prayers in local mosques. However, they won't be allowed to congregate at Srinagar's historic Jama Masjid.

The Kashmir valley has been under lockdown since Sunday midnight, a day before the government moved to divide the state into two Union Territories and also scrapped Articles that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The President okayed the move soon after both houses of Parliament passed it.

The Centre is monitoring the situation and on Thursday, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval reviewed the situation in a meeting held in the Police Control Room of the J&K Police.