He said that the decision is “unconstitutional” and his party Jammu & Kashmir National Conference is ready for the “long and tough battle” that lies ahead.

“Government of India (GOI)’s unilateral and shocking decisions today are a total betrayal of the trust that the people of Jammu & Kashmir had reposed in India when the State acceded to it in 1947. The decisions will have far-reaching and dangerous consequences. This is an aggression against people of the State as had been warned by an all-parties meeting in Srinagar yesterday,” Abdullah said in a statement.

“GOI has resorted to deceit and stealth in recent weeks to lay the ground for these disastrous decisions. Our darkest apprehensions have unfortunately come true after the GOI and it’s representatives in J and K lied to us that nothing major was planned,” he added.

He accused that the central government kept the leaders and people under deception with “nothing big” excuse and announced such a big decision hastily.

“Those of us who gave democratic voice to the people of Jammu & Kashmir, are incarcerated as lakhs of armed security personnel have been put on the ground,” he said.

“The scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A raise fundamental questions on the State’s accession because that was done on the very terms enunciated in these Articles. The decisions are unilateral, illegal and unconstitutional and will be challenged as such by the National Conference. A long and tough battle lies ahead. We are ready for that,” he added.

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution acted as an additional layer to ratify Government’s decisions on Kashmir, which made J&K an autonomous state. Kashmiris had a special status which barred non-domicile Kashmiris from owning land and any immovable property. However, with the abolition of the Article 370, J&K will no longer enjoy special status and border state is converted into a Union Territory with a legislature.