People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday claimed that she has been put under house arrest amid a row over the Hyderpora encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. Taking to Twitter, she further said local police have arrested two of her party colleagues — party chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari and spokesperson Najmu Saqib — in a post on Twitter.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also posted pictures of locked doors and a surveillance vehicle outside the main gate of her residence. “Again under house arrest and PDPs Sqib and Suhail Bukhari too have been arrested,” she wrote on the micro-blogging site. “The pattern of using innocent civilians as human shields and then denying their families the right to a decent burial shows that GOI has plumbed new depths of inhumanity,” the PDP leader added.
On Monday, a Pakistani terrorist, his associate Aamir Magray and two civilians – Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Mudasir Gul – were killed in the encounter in the Hyderpora area of Srinagar. The family of the two civilians — Altaf Ahmad and Mudasir — have claimed that they are innocent and demanded their bodies be returned for burials as per their rituals. However, police have charged them as “terror associates”.
Mufti said the “narrative right from the start was based on lies to escape accountability”. “They don’t want to be held accountable for their actions and that’s why they are muzzling voices that speak up against such injustice and atrocities,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has ordered a magisterial probe into the Hyderpora encounter. “The government will take suitable action as soon as the report is submitted in a time-bound manner. Jammu and Kashmir administration reiterates the commitment of protecting lives of innocent civilians and it will ensure there is no injustice,” tweeted the Office of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha.
Earlier in the day, the family members of two civilians were forcibly removed from the sites, where they were staging a sit-in. The demonstration was staged to demand the bodies of their family members to be returned to them for burials. Several protesters were detained by the police.