Mehbooba, J-K Police engage in Twitter spat over her house arrest’ claim

Srinagar: Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir Police engaged in a Twitter spat on Wednesday after she claimed that she was placed under house arrest to prevent her from visiting an area in north Kashmir.

The police rebutted the claims of the PDP chief and said she was free to travel anywhere.

Mehbooba claimed that since Union Home Minister Amit Shah was travelling to Baramulla, 54 kilometres from here, in north Kashmir and addressing a public rally there, she had been stopped from attending a wedding of a party worker in Pattan, 27 kilometres from here.

“While HM is going around Kashmir beating drums of normalcy, I am under house arrest for simply wanting to visit Pattan for a worker’s wedding. If an ex CM’s fundamental rights can be suspended so easily, one can’t even imagine the plight of a commoner,” she said in a tweet and tagged the home minister and Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.

She also put out pictures of the alleged locking of the door of the main gate of her house.

However, almost 40 minutes later, the Srinagar Police tweeted that there were no restrictions on her travel to Pattan. The police even claimed that she herself had locked the gate from inside.

“It is clarified that no restriction of any kind (of) travel to Pattan, travel to Pattan at 1 pm as intimated to us. The picture tweeted by her is of inside of the gate with own lock of residents who stay in the bunglow. There is no lock or any restrictions. She is free to travel,” the police said in the tweet.

They also put out pictures of her gate with no locks from the outside.

This was quickly rebutted by Mehbooba who said the SSP Baramulla had informed her Tuesday night that she would not be allowed to travel. She claimed that the police were “now lying through their teeth”.

“I was informed last night by SP (SSP) Baramulla @bhatray that I wouldn’t be allowed to travel to Pattan. Today @JmuKmrPolice have themselves locked my gates from inside & are now lying through their teeth. Sad that law enforcement agencies are brazenly trying to cover up their tracks,” she said in a tweet.