Under 'house arrest', Mehbooba mocks GOI's claims of normalcy in Kashmir

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti mocked the government of India for making ‘fake claims of normalcy’ in Kashmir when she has been placed under house arrest on the grounds that the situation is ‘far from normal in Kashmir’. She also slammed the Centre for expressing concern for the rights of Afghan people and continuing to ‘wilfully deny the same to Kashmiris’.

Mufti was reportedly going to attend a private function in Kulgam district when she was informed about her house arrest, said media reports.

In her tweet on Tuesday (September 7) morning, the former J&K chief minister lashed out at the government of India saying, “GOI expresses concern for the rights of Afghan people but wilfully denies the same to Kashmiris.” And added that she had been placed under house arrest today because the situation is far from normal in Kashmir according to the administration.

Also read: Kashmir & Kabul: Return of Taliban spells danger in the Valley

“This exposes their fake claims of normalcy,” she had tweeted, said a India Today report.

After the death of the 91-year-old separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from multiple ailments on September 1, restrictions were imposed across the Union Territory, internet and cellular services were cut to prevent a public funeral and protests over his death.Though some of the curbs have been lifted in many areas of Kashmir, parts of Srinagar still remain under a clampdown to prevent a law and order situation, said media reports.

In an earlier tweet, Mehbooba had called Kashmir as an ‘open-air prison’ after the police filed an FIR against unnamed persons after videos started appearing of the body of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani draped with a Pakistani flags and allegedly raising  ‘anti-national’ slogans, said an Indian Express report.

The family had accused the police of barging in and allegedly forcibly taking Geelani’s body from the family to bury in the absence of family members, including his two sons. The police however denied this claim stating that they had facilitated the burial for the family at a graveyard in Hyderpora, said a Hindustan Times report.

Also read: Citing Afghan crisis, Mehbooba asks govt to restore J&K special status; draws flak

The administration had not only turned Kashmir into an open air prison, but they were not even sparing the dead, Mehbooba had said in her tweet. It is the right of the family members to conduct the last rites of a person but here the government didn’t allow family members to conduct last rites, instead the family members of Geelani were beaten especially women and also cases slapped against them, she alleged in her tweet.

“India is a very big country and this is against its culture. This country is respected across world for its democracy and in democracy everybody has the right to put their perspective,” she had tweeted. The India Today report said that she also added that booking Geelani sahab’s family under UAPA shows GOI’s deep rooted paranoia & ruthlessness. This is New India’s Naya Kashmir, she had concluded.

The administration has not yet given any official response on Mufti’s house arrest.