This Article is From Sep 29, 2021

"Locked Up Yet Again...": Mehbooba Mufti Says Under House Arrest

Mehbooba Mufti: This is the second time in three weeks the PDP chief has been put under "house detention"; the first was after she announced plans to visit J&K's Kulgam district.

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Mehbooba Mufti tweeted an image of her locked front gate and an armoured truck parked outside

Srinagar:

Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted Wednesday to say she had been stopped from leaving her residence because a security forces vehicle had been parked outside the main gate of residence on Srinagar's Gupkar Road.

This is the second time in three weeks the PDP chief has claimed to be in "house detention". She said she had wanted to visit J&K's Tral area, where security forces allegedly ransacked homes.

"Locked up in my house today yet again for attempting to visit the village in Tral allegedly ransacked by army. This is the real picture of Kashmir that visiting dignitaries must be shown instead of GOI's sanitised & guided picnic tours," Ms Mufti tweeted this morning.

She attached a photo of an armoured CRPF, or Central Reserve Police Force, truck parked outside her gate, with green security barricades also visible.

Yesterday she tweeted alleging that members from an Army camp in Tral had "ransacked homes and ruthlessly thrashed a family". Ms Mufti said the daughter of the family had been seriously injured.

"Army from Yagwani camp in Tral ransacked homes & ruthlessly thrashed a family last night. The daughter, owing to her serious injuries, was admitted to hospital. Not the first time that civilians from this village have been beaten up by army in this area," she posted.

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Ms Mufti had stated her intention to visit this family.

Earlier this month she said she had been put under "house arrest" after planning to visit a village in J&K's Kulgam district. She tweeted that being placed under "house arrest" exposed "fake claims of normalcy", and posted a similar picture - her locked front gate and an armoured truck parked nearby.

"Government of India expresses concern for the rights of Afghan people but wilfully denies the same to Kashmiris. I've been placed under house arrest today because according to the administration the situation is far from normal in Kashmir. This exposes their fake claims of normalcy," she said.

The police, however, said she had been requested not visit Kulgam for security reasons.

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A senior police officer said they had to make significant security deployments in the area because Ms Mufti has 'Z+' protection, and stressed "we have not put her under house arrest".

Mehbooba Mufti was detained for nearly 14 months starting August 2019, after the government controversially scrapped Article 370, and charged under the notorious Public Safety Act (PSA) -  a stringent law that allows detention and multiple extensions without trial.

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She was released in October last year - just before expiry of a Supreme Court deadline; the court had been approached by her daughter, Iltija Mufti, who had challenged her "illegal" detention.

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