Daughter of former Kashmir chief minister detained

By Mir Hilal Ahmad

SRINAGAR, Jammu, and Kashmir (AA) - Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s 34-year old daughter Iltija Mufti was detained at her residence in summer capital Srinagar on Thursday.

She was trying to visit the grave of her grandfather, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in South Kashmir.

“I was detained at my mother’s official residence, as I was trying to step outside,'' she told Anadolu Agency.

“They did not let me come out of the house. They have been harassing me all these months. This time I told them I would not be taking this lying down,” she said.

Iltija hogged media limelight after she criticized the Indian government, which had put her mother and several of her party colleagues under detention, a day ahead Kashmir was stripped of its autonomy on Aug. 5.

She has been actively voicing her opinions on Twitter since then.

“I only wanted to visit my grandfather’s grave. They have been saying that everything is normal in Kashmir so why they are not letting me move around,” she said.

Her grandfather Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was also chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir twice from 2003-2005 and again from 2014-2016.

The additional director general of police (law and order) Muneer Khan, however, said that Iltija was not under house arrest, but had been prevented from traveling to Bijbehara town in South Kashmir.

“She did not have the security clearance,” Khan told Anadolu Agency.