Ishfaq-ul-Hassan | India Tomorrow
SRINAGAR—A month after she was released, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was allegedly detained again at her residence and not allowed to visit the family of arrested youth leader Waheed ur Rehman Para at Pulwama.
“I’ve been illegally detained yet again. For the last two days, J&K admin has refused to allow me to visit @parawahid’s family in Pulwama. BJP Ministers & their puppets are allowed to move around in every corner of Kashmir but security is a problem only in my case,” Mehbooba said.
She said her daughter has also been put under `house arrest’. “Their cruelty knows no bounds. Waheed was arrested on baseless charges & 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.
Mehbooba was to brief the press about her alleged detention. But media was not allowed to enter her residence. She also tweeted about it. When a journalist tweeted quoting police that Mehbooba has only been prevented from going to Pulwama, former chief minister responded through another tweet saying that if she was not detained, why was media not allowed to enter her residence.
The alleged detention of Mehbooba comes a day before the first phase of the District Development Council polls are scheduled to take off in Jammu and Kashmir. The eight-phase poll will commence on Saturday.
Mehbooba’s alleged detention also comes two days after youth president of PDP Waheed ur Rehman Para was arrested by National Investigation Agency in New Delhi.
| PDP’s youth leader Waheed Para was supposed to contest the polls from his home constituency in Pulwama. He was arrested immediately after filing the nomination. PDP said it is a clear attempt by a central agency meddling into the electoral process and influencing it in favor of the cronies of New Delhi. “PDP Leadership outrightly condemns New Delhi’s latest ruthless action against its youth leader who was a beacon of change in the society and always upheld the values and principles of nonviolence and democratic engagement. Waheed’s arrest signals the level of depravity to which the BJP and RSS can go in targeting and damaging its political opponents. These actions of New Delhi will not deter the PDP. Our actions and our voices will become louder,” said a PDP spokesman in a statement. The PDP spokesman said even after being placed under detention as well as house arrest for more than a year, his belief in democracy and in the power of people’s mandate led him to file his nomination for DDC elections. “And his return for investing his past, present and future in the democratic functioning of a volatile zone such as Kashmir has cost him his own freedom. While we in J&K are seeing how the BJP is constantly favoring and protecting its own candidates for the upcoming elections, a very important member of our party is being targeted for not only voicing his stand against the ills of the administration but also having the sheer courage to contest in elections after repeated harassment at the hands of the state,” he said. The spokesman said BJP has to face the facts that elections are not meant to favor the favorites rather, elections are meant for people to elect their representatives who they see fit to run their area. “Installing puppets and criminalizing genuine efforts towards democratic functioning in Kashmir is how the BJP greatly undermines the spirit of democracy. During the PDP-BJP government (during which he was appreciated by the offices of the former Home Minister of India, Rajnath Singh for his relentless efforts at connecting with disgruntled Kashmiri youth) but has also been instrumental in the reconciliation process,” he said. |
