Kashmir

Anti-encroachment drive: Mehbooba Mufti arrested in Delhi

NEW DELHI — People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was on Wednesday detained by police in Delhi for protesting against Jammu and Kashmir Government’s anti-encroachment drive.

Iltija Mufti, daughter of Mehbooba Mufti confirmed her arrest.

Mehbooba was in Delhi as her mother required some medical treatment. While here, her and her supporters organised a small protest against the eviction drive, and it was during this time that the Delhi Police swooped in to detain her, The Wire quoted Iltija as having said.

The PDP, along with other Kashmir-based parties, have been criticising the J&K authorities’ ongoing anti-encroachment drive, saying it amounts to a “homelessness drive” and is an attack on the people of Kashmir, The Wire reported.

According to PTI, Mehbooba and scores of her party workers had planned to march from the Railway Bhawan to Parliament in the national capital, where she wanted make the opposition parties aware of the “bulldozer policy” of J&K administration. However, she was detained by police.

“We had come to inform the public, opposition parties and members of the ruling BJP about the misery faced by the public at large in Jammu and Kashmir. If we can’t go to Parliament, I wonder where we should go then. Does the government want us to get our grievances redressed at the United Nations,” Mehbooba asked as per PTI.

There is no rule of law that can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir and “we came all the way to Delhi to speak our hearts out. But it seems that here also the voice of the general public is muzzled,” she said.