People’s Conference MLA Sajad Lone on Tuesday walked out from the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly accusing the authorities of muzzling voices after his motion seeking inclusion of amendments, including restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, was disallowed by Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather.

He drew parallel to the “rigging” of Assembly elections in 1987 that triggered militancy in J&K.

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Lone, a former minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, walked out of the assembly when the debate on the Lt. Governor’s address began after the Question Hour, saying “I am not convinced by the speaker’s reply and I believe they are trying to muzzle us”.

As the assembly was preparing to discuss the Lt Governor’s address, the People’s Conference chairman drew the attention of the speaker to the seven amendments moved by him, including restoration of Article 370. Five amendments moved by him were rejected, he said.

The speaker told the member that the house has already passed a resolution about the special status and rules do not allow such an issue to be tabled again in the house.

“I had moved some amendments with regard to Lt Governor’s address but five of the seven amendments were rejected by the speaker. I have demanded restoration of Article 370, repeal of the Public Safety Act, recent civilian killings, Kashmir-specific police verification and a probe in 1987 rigging in assembly elections which were rejected,” Lone told reporters outside the assembly.

He called it an irony that this is the same National Conference that highlighted these issues during its election campaign. After forming the government, “they do not want to listen and have imposed a ban on talking about these things”.

In its election manifesto, the National Conference talked of Article 370 but now they have introduced a new term, “special status”, he pointed out.

The speaker said the house cannot take a call on revoking the Public Safety Act and police verification as these are beyond the control of the government and are under the purview of the Union Home Ministry.

On the alleged rigging of polls in 1987, he said over 37 years have passed since and it was not possible to go for a probe.

Leader of opposition and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma said the Article 370 was now irrelevant.

After verbal exchanges between the National Conference and the BJP MLAs over the condition of the border areas, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the development in Pakistan occupied Kashmir was ‘facilitated’ by China with no significant role played by the Pakistan government in its progress.

The chief minister made the statement after heated exchanges between members of the BJP and the NC over the condition of border areas in the region. “We have to accept that while there is limited development in our frontier areas, on the other side, there have been deliberate attempts to showcase progress. However, this so-called development was facilitated by China, not Pakistan,” the CM said.

He said India has not sought assistance from any foreign country for infrastructure development in border regions.

Criticising the portrayal of development in PoK, he remarked, “PoK government made people wear coats to create the facade of development. However, in reality, the pockets of those coats are empty”.

In another development, allegations of malpractice in the Rs 401 crore National Saffron Mission (NSM) rocked the House after legislators demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter.