PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti shifted to govt accommodation in Srinagar; move necessitated in view of approaching harsh winter season

Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was on Friday shifted to a government accommodation in the city from a tourist hut located at the foothills of Zaberwan range, officials said. The move was necessitated as the approaching winters and frequent power cuts made it difficult to stay in the hut which was converted into a jail after she was detained on 5 August this year. Officials arrived at the PDP patron’s hut on Friday morning but the process to shift her got delayed because of some “paperwork” which needed to be completed, the officials said. She was shifted on Friday evening to a government accommodation in the heart of the city after it was declared a “jail” by the administration of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, they said. Mufti, along with Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, were detained in the early hours of 5 August when the Centre announced abrogation of provisions of Article 370 besides bifurcation of the state into the union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Initially, she was kept with Omar Abdullah at Hari Nivas, but was later shifted to Chesma Shahi and lodged in a tourist hut. Both, Omar Abdullah and Mufti have been detained under section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Abdullah, who is a three time chief minister of the state and at present is a Lok Sabha member, was slapped with stringent Public Safety Act on 17 September.