Detained ahead of Budgam visit, says Mehbooba Mufti

Mufti posted a video message on her Twitter handle, claiming that she had been detained by the police.According to PDP leaders, she was scheduled to visit Budgam where families have been served eviction notices by the forest department.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that she was detained at her house ahead of a planned visit to Budgam district on Tuesday.

This is not the first time that the PDP president has not been allowed out of her house since her release in October after 14 months in detention. (PTI file photo)

Mufti posted a video message on her Twitter handle, claiming that she had been detained by the police.According to PDP leaders, she was scheduled to visit Budgam where families have been served eviction notices by the forest department.

“Illegal detention has become GOIs {government of India’s} favourite go-to method for muzzling any form of opposition. I’ve been detained once again because I wanted to visit Budgam where hundreds of families were evicted from their homes,” Mufti tweeted.

In the video shot near the entrance of her official residence at Fairview, on Srinagar’s Gupkar Road, she can be heard saying that she is not being allowed to move out.

“GOI wants to continue inflicting oppression & zulm {cruelty} on the people of J&K without any questions asked,” she tweeted, posting another video in which the former chief minister, along with PDP spokesman Suhail Bukhari, can be seen arguing with security personnel deployed at her house.

Police had then cited security reasons. She visited Pulwama later and met relatives of Parra at Naira village. Mufti has also visited Pahalgam and met Gujjar families who were asked to vacate forest land.