Srinagar: On Saturday once again Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti courted controversy and spoke in favour of Kashmiri separatists, condemning the arrests made by the police and state administration in the wake of the recent Pulwama terror attack and the hearing of Article 35A in the Supreme Court next week.
While directing towards the recent crackdown on Kashmiri separatists and Hurriyat leaders in the Valley, Mufti said “you can imprison a person but not his ideas”, sending out a clear message on the current state of unrest in the state.
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Mufti posted on social media platform Twitter “In the past 24 hours, Hurriyat leaders and workers of Jamaat organisation have been arrested… Fail to understand such an arbitrary move which will only precipitate matters in Jammu and Kashmir. Under what legal grounds are their arrests justified? You can imprison a person but not his ideas,”.
Her statements came in the backdrop of the arrest of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief and Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik who was detained by the police from his residence in Srinagar on Friday night ahead of the hearing on Article 35A in Supreme Court, which is likely to take place on Monday. His detention comes just a couple of days ahead of the likely hearing of Article 35A in the Supreme Court on February 25. The provision included in the Indian Constitution in 1954 grants special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir administration decided to withdraw security covers of five separatist leaders. “No security cover will be provided under any pretext to these five leaders and other separatists,” officials said. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Shah, Hashim Qureshi, Bilal Lone and Abdul Ghani Bhat are the five separatist leaders whose security has been withdrawn. However, the name of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani does not feature in the list.