‘Everyone will have to pay price’: Mehbooba Mufti on detention of people over J&K civilian killings

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir administration had prior information about attacks on minority community members, but refuted them to provide security to Union ministers, who went there to promote BJP’s “fake propaganda” about normalcy in the valley.

Referring to the detention of at least 500 people over the recent spate of civilian killings in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that the Union territory's administration has been nabbing citizens “without evidence” as a “cover-up.”

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said “humiliation of an entire population” has become the “one size fits all approach to resolve problems.” (ANI Photo)

“It is [the] government's failure…If they keep arresting, repercussions will be dangerous, everyone will have to pay the price,” Mufti told news agency ANI.

Further, she took to Twitter to claim that the Jammu & Kashmir administration had prior information about the attacks on minority community members, but dismissed them to offer security to Union ministers, who went to the Valley to promote the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “fake narrative and propaganda” about normalcy in the region.

“Not taking responsibility and arresting 700 civilians shows their intention to shift blame and absolve themselves. Collective punishment and humiliation of an entire population has become the one size fits all approach to resolve problems caused due to (Government of India) GOI’s punitive policies,” she wrote in another tweet.

Notably, apart from the detention and questioning of at least 500 people, police in Kashmir have also interrogated suspected members of banned terrorist organisations such as Jamaat-e-Islami to understand their role in the murders.

“It is true that we have called some people and are verifying the involvement of locals,” north Kashmir deputy inspector general Udaybhaskar Billa told the Hindustan Times.

The situation in the Valley has been restive due to the murders of as many as seven civilians, including three from minority communities, since October 3. On October 5, three civilians – including two Hindu citizens, were shot dead by terrorists, whereas on October 7, two teachers, including the principal of a government school, were shot dead.