- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday (5) said she and some senior leaders of her Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were put under house arrest while several others were detained on the fourth occasion of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that accorded special status to the former state.
“I’ve been put under house arrest along with other senior PDP leaders today. This comes after a midnight crackdown where scores of my party men are illegally detained in police stations. GOI’s (Government of India) false claims about normalcy to the SC (Supreme Court) stands exposed by their actions driven by paranoia,” she said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter.
The 64-year-old Mufti, who is the only woman and the last chief minister of the former state which was also made a Union Territory in 2019, said while giant hoardings calling upon Kashmiris to “celebrate” the abrogation of the article have been put up across its summer capital Srinagar, “brute force is being used to choke the actual sentiment of the people”.
“Hope the Hon’ble SC takes cognisance of these developments at a time when Article 370 has come up for hearing,” the former chief minister said in another tweet. The Centre revoked Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union territories — J-K and Ladakh — on August 5, 2019.
The PDP claimed after denying permission to the party for organising a peaceful programme on the fourth anniversary of Article 370 abrogation, a “massive crackdown” was carried against the party leaders during the night.
A party spokesman alleged that former ministers Abdul Rehman Veeri, Nayeem Akhter and Asia Naqash, PDP general secretary Ghulam Nahi Lone Hanjura, general secretary (organisation) Mehboob Beg, and district president Budgam Mohammad Yasin Bhat were put under house arrest.
He also said party chief spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari, youth president Waheed ur Rehman Parra, state secretary Abdul Hameed Kohsheen, additional spokesperson Abdul Rouf Bhat, district president Srinagar Abdul Qayoom Bhat and other party leaders and workers were detained in different police stations. The spokesman also said that the roads leading to the PDP headquarters near Sher-e-Kashmir Park were sealed and no staffer was allowed to enter the office.
The National Conference (NC), another major player in Kashmir politics, said that its headquarters Nawa-i-Subah was “sealed” and no one was allowed to go inside. “True to form and in keeping with the clampdown on mainstream democratic activities organised by parties opposed to 5th Aug 2019, the JKNC office has been sealed by the police. No one is being allowed in or out of the office,” it said in a social media post.
“These steps betray the nervousness of the administration & render hollow their claims regarding great improvements in the last 4 years,” it added. The police, however, were tight-lipped about the alleged restrictions on NC and PDP leaders.
(With PTI inputs)
