Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday allegedly put PDP chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija under house arrest to prevent them from visiting the families of two civilians who died allegedly because of army and police action earlier this week.
Makhan Din, a 25-year-old father of two little girls from Kathua, died by suicide to escape alleged police torture. Waseem Ahmad Mir, a truck driver from Baramulla, was allegedly shot dead by the army for jumping a traffic signal.
Outrage has gripped Jammu and Kashmir over what is being termed as arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings.
Iltija, who is Mehbooba’s media adviser, said she and her mother had been placed under house arrest. She uploaded pictures of a locked gate on social media.
“Our gates have been locked up because she was meant to visit Sopore where Waseem Mir was shot dead by the army. I intended to visit Kathua today to meet Makhan Din’s family & am not being allowed to even move out,” Iltija posted on X. “Nothing has changed in Kashmir even after elections. Now even comforting the families of victims is being criminalised.”
A PDP spokesperson said the police also directed its leaders Rafiq Rather and Malik Altaf not to visit Mir’s home in Baramulla.
The party has piled pressure on the ruling National Conference (NC) for the deaths, although law and order fall under the domain of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration.
The PDP spokesperson regretted that the NC had not reacted to the house detentions of the party leaders.
Iltija had on Thursday addressed a media conference where she had asked what right the NC had to hold on to power if it could not bring any positive changes.
She said the situation remained grim on the human rights front despite an elected government being in power.
The NC’s Srinagar MP, Ruhullah Mehdi, dismissed the army’s claims trying to absolve itself of any involvement.
The army claimed Mir had jumped a checkpoint and was chased for 23km before shots were fired at the tyres of his truck. The army didn’t explain how he died.
Mehdi called the army’s claim a mockery. He said doctors had reported that Mir was shot in the chest and wondered how the bullet reached there if it was fired at the tyres. Mehdi said Mir was reportedly tortured before he was shot dead.
The MP also questioned the army’s claim of chasing him for 23km. He said it happened on a national highway dotted with bunkers, security camps and CCTV cameras. Mehdi said the army could “come up with the story” because it knew nobody would hold it accountable.
He claimed the two incidents, along with hundreds of arrests in connection to the killing of a retired army soldier in Kulgam, have come after home minister Amit Shah’s review meetings.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah had earlier hit out at the police and the army for the deaths and said they risked alienating people.
Omar accused the police of using excessive force against Din, leading to his suicide. He said Mir was shot by the army under circumstances “that are not entirely clear”.
“Jammu and Kashmir will never be completely normalised and free of terror without the cooperation of and partnership with the local population,” he had said, asking the Centre to hold a time-bound and transparent inquiry.