Mehbooba Mufti shifted to her residence, to remain under detention

Sri Nagar: Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and PDP head, has been shifted to her residence in Srinagar, where she will continue to remain under detention, an official order issued on Tuesday said.

The government order said the Peoples Democratic Party leader is being moved from a subsidiary jail on MA Road in Srinagar to her Fairview residence that will serve as a subsidiary jail.

Mehbooba Mufti, who was charged under the Public Safety Act, has been under detention since August 5 last year, when the Constitution’s Article 370 was scrapped and Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union territories.

Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, tweeted to thank the media and ask for privacy.

“My gratitude to the media in Kashmir for their concern & well wishes. May I please humbly request that you give the family privacy as we wait for her to come home today. Please remember this isn’t a release & the house has been declared as a subsidiary jail,” she said.

While two other former chief ministers and National Conference leaders, Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, were released earlier, Mufti continues to remain under detention.

“@MehboobaMufti must be set free. Shifting her home while continuing to keep her detained is a cop out (sic),” Omar Abdullah tweeted reacting to the news of her being shifted.

Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti, too, has moved the Supreme Court challenging her mother’s detention and leaders across the political spectrum in J&K have sought the release of Mufti and a host of other political leaders including Bilal Lone, Shah Feasal and Naeem Akhtar.