MEHBOOBA ALLEGES HOUSE ARREST, OMAR, PDP REACT

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti claimed on Friday that she has been put under house arrest. However, police said that Mehbooba has been disallowed to move to Pulwama purely for security reasons.

Mehbooba erupted in anger through her tweets as her scheduled press conference on Friday afternoon was also disallowed by police. Iltija Mufti, her daughter, told the media that her mother was under house arrest and was not allowed to go to the house of Waheed Parra in Pulwama who was recently arrested by NIA.

In one of her tweets on Friday afternoon she said: “Is this what you call democracy where you don’t have any right to exercise your freedom of speech and expression. You are being threatened and intimidated for raising your voice about anything.”

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah on Friday, while reacting to the house detention of Mehbooba, wrote on Twitter, “Parking a truck in front of our gates is now a 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 government, to give and withdraw at will, with no interference from the judiciary.” 

Mehbooba replied to one of the tweets by a journalist, who said that police says she is not being allowed only to visit Pulwama, by questioning why the press conference was not allowed. In another tweet, she said, “We are one day away from DDC polling and it’s evident that the admin here is using fear and intimidation in tandem to muffle any form of opposition.” Reacting to the restrictions on her press conference, Mehbooba tweeted, “Press has been barred from entering my residence in Srinagar. This despite no written orders explaining my arbitrary detention. Kashmir is an open-air prison where no one has the right to express their opinion.”