Kashmir leaders detained ahead of protest
Srinagar, Jan 1: Kashmir political leaders including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were on Saturday put under “house arrest” in a bid to foil a protest against the Delimitation Commission’s suggestion which they say discriminates against the Kashmir Valley.
The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) leaders said they were placed under “house arrest” by the police.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said the authorities had parked trucks outside the gates of the house to scuttle the planned sit-in.
“Good morning and welcome to 2022. A new year with the same J&K Police illegally locking people in their homes and an administration so terrified of normal democratic activity,” he tweeted.
“Trucks parked outside our gates to scuttle the peaceful sit-in protest. Some things never change,” he said.
Omar’s father and MP Farooq Abdullah heads the PAGD, a grouping of mainstream parties seeking restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
“Talk about a lawless police state, the police have even locked the internal gate connecting my father’s home to my sister’s. Yet our leaders have the cheek to tell the world that India is the largest democracy, hah!!” Omar Abdullah said in another tweet.
Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti said the Indian government was “deeply paranoid and intolerant when people of J&K want to protest.
“GOI trumpets scrapping Article 370 and dismembering J&K throughout the country but is deeply paranoid and intolerant when people of J&K want to protest against its disempowerment. For the umpteenth time, we’ve been placed under house arrest for trying to organise a peaceful protest,” she tweeted.
PAGD spokesman and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Y Tarigami said he and other leaders were not being allowed to move outside their houses and have been put under house detention.
The draft proposal of the Delimitation Commission has proposed six seats for Jammu region and one for the Kashmir Valley.