Address arbitrary arrests: Mehbooba Mufti urges LG’s administration

Kulgam, Nov 26: Urging the Lieutenant Governor’s administration to provide an account of the hundreds of people arrested daily bypassing procedures, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti Sunday said that the “repressive measures” by various government agencies had made life, property, and privacy of people insecure.
A statement of PDP issued here said that addressing party workers at Noorabad, Kulgam, Mehbooba while referring to an elderly woman having been arrested for money laundering said even women were not spared.

Mehbooba said that though countless people were arrested by agencies like NIA, CBI, SIA, and SIU, hardly any information was shared about their fate.
“Please tell us are they alive or dead? Where are they lodged? Which court has remanded them to custody?” she asked the LG.

Mehbooba said that despite so many arrests there hardly was any conviction from the court as they all had been picked up on trumped-up charges.

“This should lead the administration to review its policies,” she said.
Mehbooba said that she or her party never sought power but the vision offered by the PDP patron and former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was to bring J&K out of its misery and ensure a life of peace and dignity for its people.

She said more important than power was the moral strength and political will to speak up for the people and their rights.

“I did not compromise on that even while heading the government with the BJP,” Mehbooba said.

She said that allying with the BJP was a requirement not for power but to block its designs.

“We did that successfully as long as it lasted,” Mehbooba said. She said that the BJP withdrew support to her government only after realising that the PDP would implement its agenda of peace and development and would not go along the dotted line as they were used to.
Urging the people to lend their voice to the efforts for the restoration of the rights of the people, Mehbooba said she was not on a campaign for votes.
“Positions don’t matter to me but what matters is to speak up for our agenda and our people. I will never compromise on that, come what may,” she said.
Senior PDP leaders Sartaj Madani and Waheed Parra were also present on the occasion.