Mehbooba Mufti slams crackdown on separatists in Jammu and Kashmir; calls move 'arbitrary', questions legality of arrests
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday called the crackdown on separatists in Kashmir an arbitrary move which will only precipitate matters in Jammu and Kashmir.
-
Mehbooba reacted after Kashmiri separatist and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yaseen Malik was detained by the police
-
Police apprehended Malik from his Maisuma residence
-
He has reportedly been taken to the Kothibagh Police Station
Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday called the crackdown on separatists in Kashmir an "arbitrary move" which will only "precipitate matters in Jammu and Kashmir".
"Under what legal grounds are their arrests justified?" tweeted the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the past 24 hours, Hurriyat leaders & workers of Jamaat organisation have been arrested. Fail to understand such an arbitrary move which will only precipitate matters in J&K. Under what legal grounds are their arrests justified? You can imprison a person but not his ideas.
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 23, 2019
Mehbooba reacted after Kashmiri separatist and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yaseen Malik was detained by the police late on Friday night.
File image of former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti. PTI
The cops apprehended Malik from his Maisuma residence. He has reportedly been taken to the Kothibagh Police Station.
Malik's detention comes ahead of a crucial hearing on Article 35A in the Supreme Court which is likely to take place on February 25.
Article 35A, incorporated into the Indian Constitution in 1954, grants special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
There have been media reports that a mass crackdown has been launched against Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Kashmir as dozens of its leaders were reportedly arrested in raids by government forces during the intervening night of Friday-Saturday.
In the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack which claimed lives of at least 42 CRPF soldiers on 14 February, Jammu and Kashmir government withdrew security cover of several separatists including Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and Saleem Geelani.
also read
Why Pakistan's deepening economic meltdown will jeopardize its ability to survive a war with India
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto is getting increasingly hyper about India whether it is in the UN or in the bilateral fora that happened in Berlin late last year or to a domestic audience
Jammu and Kashmir: Tulip garden opens for public with 15 lakh tulips of 68 varieties
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the opening ceremony said that about 68 varieties of tulips will bloom in the garden this year
Jammu and Kashmir: Alert sounded in Samba after leopard ventures into India from Pakistan
The leopard was caught on camera crossing the fencing near the Border Security Force (BSF) border outpost nursery on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday