Srinagar, Nov 27: Kashmir is an “open air prison” where no one has the right to express their opinion, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday after the authorities barred her from holding a press conference at her residence here where she claimed she was placed under house arrest in the morning.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said she was not allowed to visit the Pulwama residence of party leader Waheed Parra who was arrested by the NIA earlier this week.
Mufti said her daughter was also put under house arrest. “Press has been barred from entering my residence in Srinagar. This despite no written orders explaining my arbitrary detention. Kashmir is an open air prison where no one has the right to express their opinion,” she said on Twitter.
A posse of policemen stopped journalists about 100 metres away from Mufti’s ‘Fairview’ residence in Gupkar area of the city here, where she was scheduled to address the media.
The police said the presser of the PDP president was not allowed as per the orders from the higher ups. Mufti had invited journalists for the press conference this morning after she was allegedly put under house arrest.
The former chief minister said she was not allowed for the last two days to meet the family of the party’s youth leader Waheed Parra who was arrested by the NIA. She said Parra was arrested on “baseless charges”.
“Ive been illegally detained yet again. Since two days, J&K admin has refused to allow me to visit @parawahid’s family in Pulwama. BJP Ministers & their puppets are allowed to move around in every corner of Kashmir but security is a problem only in my case,” Mufti said in a tweet in the morning.
The police dismissed Mufti’s claims saying she was not under house arrest but was asked to postpone her visit to Pulwama due to security reasons.
The police, however, did not elaborate on why the residence of the PDP chief was blocked and journalists were barred from entering it for the press conference.
“PDP leader Ms Mehbooba Mufti is not under house arrest. She was requested to #postpone her visit to #Pulwama purely due to #security reasons,” Kashmir Zone Police said on Twitter.
The former chief minister accused the administration of using “fear and intimidation” to “muffle” any form of opposition just a day before the commencement of the District Development Council (DDC) polls. (PTI)
