Mehbooba Mufti’s new residence fails to get ‘security clearance’ from J&K police

Ms. Mufti along with her daughter and mother shifted to her sister’s house in Khimber on November 30 after being offered a ‘dilapidated’ official accommodation

The new residence of former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar’s Khimber area. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s new residence in sparsely populated Khimber area on the outskirts of Srinagar could not get “security clearance” from the special Security Wing of the J&K Police.

According to the official communications of the Security Wing of the J&K Police, the location where Ms. Mufti has moved could not fulfil the ‘security clearance’ parameters.

The J&K Police assess security of all senior politicians in Jammu and Kashmir. A security clearance is based on the assessment of threat perception and vulnerability of the area.

Sources said Ms. Mufti’s new residence, located 16 km from her earlier official residence, Fair View, in the high-security zone of Gupkar, has long desolate stretches up to the house located on the hill slope with sparse population around. The house also has a vast forest area in the background.

Ms. Mufti along with her daughter and mother, also wife of former Union home minister and ex-J&K chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, shifted to her sister’s house in Khimber on November 30 this year.

The Lieutenant Governor’s administration in October this year warned to invoke provisions under Section (2) of Section 5 of the J&K Public Premises (Eviction of unauthorised occupants), 1988 in case Ms. Mufti and her family fail to leave the Fair View, where the Muftis were stationed since 2005 when late Mufti Sayeed was J&K’s chief minister.

The Fair View bungalow would oversee the Dal lake and had a forest range against the backdrop. After J&K was reduced to a Union Territory (U.T.) in 2019, ex-CMs were no longer offered rent-free residential accommodation under the new laws.

After the eviction notice, the L-G administration offered Ms. Mufti M5 Quarter in the high security zone of Srinagar’s Tulsi Bagh area, where bureaucrats, ex-ministers and politicians live at present. However, Ms. Mufti found the allotted quarter “in dilapidated conditions and unlivable”.