Several leaders of Jammu and kashmir regional political parties, including former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, on Monday accused the Lieutenant Governor’s administration of placing them under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of scrapping of the region’s special status by abrogating Article 370.
Iltija Mufti, PDP leader and daughter of Ms. Mehbooba, accused the police of locking up their residence in Srinagar. “If Kashmir is as normal as the GOI (Government of India) claims it to be why does the J&K Police place us under illegal house arrest on 5th August every year? The arrogance is such that SHO Nowgam has locked us up inside our own house and taken the keys away. Cops or new age jailers?” Ms. Ilitija asked.
Meanwhile, Ms. Mehbooba said August 5, 2019 will go down in history “not just as a dark day for J&K but a blot on Indian democracy”.
“The day when a semi-autonomous state was disempowered, dismembered and robbed of everything special and sacrosanct to us. Since then the state has been threatened into silence which is touted as ‘peace and normalcy’ to the rest of the country. Five years on the siege continues but so does the unyielding defiance & resistance. We Kashmiris refuse to be erased and unpeopled,” Ms. Mehbooba said, in a post on X.
National Conference (NC) leader Tanvir Sadiq, a close aide of the party’s vice president Omar Abdullah, also claimed he has been placed under house arrest. “I have been detained at home, which was completely unnecessary. I needed to leave for some work, but policemen outside my gate prevented me from doing so. This is unwarranted and illegal,” Mr. Sadiq.
Several PDP and NC leaders also claimed to have been disallowed to leave their residences on the occasion.
Meanwhile, the BJP took out a rally in celebration of abrogation of Article 370.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned the administration’s selective permissions. “This is what passes for democracy and free speech in J&K. A handful of BJP “leaders” are encouraged to celebrate today while those who would have registered their protest against what was done to J&K are locked up in homes across the valley,” Mr. Abdullah said.
J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) chief Sajad Lone also recalled August 5, 2019 as “an ugly reminder of the complete disempowerment of the Kashmiri people”. “Five years on there is no elected Assembly and the locals have no say in running their own affairs. And sadly there aren’t enough powerful voices in the country to seek questions as to why J&K has been selectively targeted for such humiliating existence,” Mr. Lone said.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up across the Union Territory. Extra security measures and checkpoints have been put in place in Srinagar and Jammu, the twin capitals of J&K. The Amarnath yatra has been halted in Jammu “as a precautionary measure”.
The Centre on August 5, 2019 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union. The Centre also brought the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act that bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Published - August 05, 2024 12:01 pm IST
