A posse of policemen outside the residence of Mehbooba Mufti | KO Photo: Abid Bhat
Mehbooba Not Under House Arrest: Police
Srinagar: PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija on Friday claimed that they had been detained at their residence to prevent them from visiting the house of arrested party leader Waheed Ur Rehman Parra in Pulwama in South Kashmir.
Reacting to the alleged detention, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah said personal liberty is treated as a favour by the government, giving and withdrawing it at will, with no interference from the judiciary.
“I’ve been illegally detained yet again. Since two days, JK admin has refused to allow me to visit @parawahid’s family in Pulwama. BJP Ministers and their puppets are allowed to move around in every corner of Kashmir but security is a problem only in my case,” Mufti tweeted in English and Urdu.
“Their cruelty knows no bounds. Waheed was arrested on baseless charges and I am not allowed to even console his family. Even my daughter Iltija has been placed under house arrest because she also wanted to visit Waheed’s family,” she said.
Parra was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday for allegedly seeking help from Hizbul Mujahideen terror group in seeking their support in the 2019 Parliamentary elections in which Mufti was the PDP candidate.
Mufti had sought security clearance for her visit to the residence of Parra at Naira village on Friday to meet his family.
In a communication posted on her official twitter handle, Additional Director General of Police and Director Special Security Group (SSG) S D Singh sought rescheduling of the proposed visit of the former chief minister to the Naira village on the demand of the Pulwama district police.
The Pulwama Police sought the rescheduling of her programme citing that neither an anti-sabotage check nor a proper route sanitisation had been done as the entire manpower was committed for other election related operation duties.
The police however dismissed Mufti’s claims saying she was not under house arrest but was asked to postpone her visit to Pulwama due to security reasons.
The police, however, did not elaborate on why the residence of the PDP chief was blocked and journalists were barred from entering it for the press conference.
PDP leader Ms Mehbooba Mufti is not under house arrest. She was requested to #postpone her visit to #Pulwama purely due to #security reasons, Kashmir Zone Police said on Twitter.
Jammu and Kashmir is all set for the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls and by-elections to the panchayat and urban local bodies, scheduled to be held in eight phases beginning November 28.
NC vice president Omar Abdullah accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of treating personal liberty as a favour.
“Parking a truck in front of our gates is now standard operating procedure for this admin. They did the same to my father recently to stop him from praying. Personal liberty is treated as a favour by the govt, to give & withdraw at will, with no interference from the judiciary,” Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
His father and NC president Farooq Abdullah was on October 30 prevented from leaving his residence to offer prayers at Hazratbal shrine on the occasion of Eid-Milad-un-Nabi.
Mehbooba’s Presser Foiled
Authorities on Friday disallowed PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s press conference here, as the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir was allegedly put under house arrest and not allowed to visit the Pulwama residence of party leader Waheed Parra who was arrested by the NIA earlier this week.
A posse of policemen stopped journalists about 100 metres away from Mufti’s ‘Fairview’ residence in Gupkar area of the city here, where she was scheduled to address the media.
The policemen said the presser of the PDP president was not allowed as per the orders from the higher ups.
Mehbooba had invited journalists for the press conference this morning after she was put under house arrest.
The former chief minister said she was not allowed for the last two days to meet the family of the party’s youth leader Waheed Parra who was arrested by the NIA.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
