Chandigarh: Three Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers, attending to their conscience call, have resigned from services, over curtailing of freedom of people of in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), after the abrogation of Article 370. However, the Government have claimed that as a prevented measures, the internet and telephone services, have been snapped and also  curfew imposed under Section 144.

An  IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who was the secretary, power department of the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, had submitted resignation to the Home Ministry on August 21, against denial of freedom of expression to the people of J&K. However, there is no mention of this in his resignations.

Although, Gopinathan (Kerala), had also said to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution was the "right of elected Government", but still, he raised his figure saying that in democracy people too, have the right to react.

IAS officer Kashish Mittal (UP), posted as an additional principal secretary to NITI Aayog, is the latest to join the league of those, who quit the most coveted job in the country. With-in one month, two IAS officers — Kannan Gopinathan and S Sasikanth Senthil — have already resigned from the services over the 'denial of freedom of expression' and 'democracy' to people of J&K.

In his resignation letter, Karnataka-cadre IAS officer Senthil said that it was unethical for him to continue in the government when “the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner.”

The officer predicted that the coming days would present extremely difficult challenges to the basic fabric of the country. “I would be better off outside the IAS to continue with my work at making life better for all. It simply cannot be business as usual anymore,” he said. Senthil, however, did not state what prompted him to quit from IAS.

J&K is under complete lockdown. To avoid any backlash, the authorities have put regional leaders including three chief ministers — Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah— under house arrest.

Following filling of petition for released of Farooq Abdulla, member Parliament, the J&K government slapped on his Public Safety Act and arrested him by notifying his house as a jail. Under this stringent act Abdulla would stay in jail for two years with assigning him the reason for that.

It is for the first time in the Indian history since 1947, that officers of the India’s premiere services protested against the government to curtail their freedom.

In the eighties, after the operation blue start conducted by Indian Army to flush out Sikh militants from the Golden Temple, six Punjab cadre senior officers including one woman, protested by asking for leave of few months to do Kar Sewa at Akal Takht to rebuilt its damaged structure. But finally no one went on leave.

Abdullah’s party the National Conference (NC) has said that would challenge the detention in court if needed. "They have no justification to do that, but if they have booked him (Abdullah) under the PSA, then what can we do. We can only approach the courts. We will take constitutional and legal recourse," senior NC leader Mohammad Akbar Lone told reporters in Srinagar here.