Srinagar | Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija has written to Home Minister Amit Shah over the detainment of leaders.
In the letter, she said that while the country was celebrating Independence Day, Kashmiri people were being “caged like animals” and “deprived of basic human rights”.
She said that visitors were turned away from her home without even informing her. She called it “odd” since she was not affiliated to any political party.
“Today while the rest of the country celebrates India’s Independence Day, Kashmiris have been caged like animals and deprived of basic human rights,” she wrote.
She said that the security personnel have detained her due to her interviews with the media. They “threatened her of dire consequences” if she spoke to the media again.
“For the world’s largest democracy, doesn’t a citizen not have a right to speak up in the face of unimaginable repression… It’s a tragic irony that I am being treated like a war criminal for stating the inconvenient truth,” she had written.
“Do I need to seek legal recourse?” Iltija concluded saying it was “suffocating and humiliating” to be treated in this manner “for stating the inconvenient truth”.
The letter, however, could not be sent to the Home Minister as postal services have been suspended in the city.
Hours after Centre revoked Article 370 from the state of Jammu and Kashmir, most of the mainstream leaders were detained and are still kept under alleged house arrest, including former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah.
IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal was detained at the Delhi airport on Wednesday and sent back to Srinagar.
No official information on when they will be released has been announced yet.
Meanwhile, Kashmir remained shut for the 12th consecutive day on Friday, even as the authorities relaxed restrictions on the movement of people in Srinagar.
“Restrictions on the movement of people have been eased in most parts of the Valley. The situation so far has remained peaceful,” a senior official of the state administration said here.
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