Ex-Kashmir chief shifted to home, detention continues

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

After 8 months in a make-shift jail in the Indian- administered Jammu and Kashmir, former first chief minister of the region Mehbooba Mufti was shifted to her official residence on Tuesday, an official order said.

However, her detention under Public Safety Act, described by Amnesty International as “lawless law,” will continue as her residence was declared as a subsidiary jail.

The detention under the act can stretch up to two years without trial.

Her daughter Iltija Mufti also confirmed the report and urged the government to release all Kashmiri prisoners.

“My mother has yet to reach her residence, but I want to say that in this [coronavirus] pandemic crisis government should release all Kashmiri prisoners who remain incarcerated since Aug. 5 last year including her mother as well,” Iltija Mufti told Anadolu Agency.

Mufti, 60, working president of the People’s Democratic Party, was detained last year on Aug. 4, a day ahead of India’s revocation of the special status and division of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two centrally administered territories.

Two other former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah were also detained, but both of them were released last month.

After the news of shifting of Mufti came, Omar Abdullah in a Twitter post said she must be released.

“@MehboobaMufti must be set free. Shifting her home while continuing to keep her detained is a cop out,” Omar tweeted.

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.