Srinagar, July 19 -- As National Conference (NC) legislators and leaders begin leaving for New Delhi, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) have announced they will not participate in the Jantar Mantar protest.

The AIP, however, said that Baramulla MP Er Rashid will go barefoot to Parliament and observe a hunger strike on July 20, in solidarity with the statehood protest.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, in a letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah, said that the PDP will join the Jantar Mantar protest only if the restoration of Article 370, the release of political prisoners, and the lifting of the ban on Jamaat are central to its agenda.

AIP chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi, along w...