Omar Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference (NC) and the head of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has stated that they were placed under “house arrest” by the police before to the Supreme Court’s decision on the appeals of Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir special status.
The PDP claimed in a tweet that before the Article 370 ruling was made public, the police had locked Mufti’s house.
The NC said that Omar Abdullah was “locked up inside his house” in a tweet.
“JKNC Vice President @OmarAbdullah was imprisoned inside his home early this morning. How unfortunate,” the party said.
Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, however, referred to the allegations that Omar Abdullah and Mufti had been placed under house arrest as “baseless” and denied them.
“This is totally baseless. No one has been put under house arrest or arrested due to political reasons in Jammu and Kashmir. It is an attempt to spread rumours,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police clarified that there were no orders to put leaders under “any kind of arrest” in the wake of the Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370. The police said no restrictions were in place and there was normalcy in the Union Territory.
“People have been urged to go about their lives and not get hassled or intimidated by social media posts regarding such news,” Jammu and Kashmir Police said.
In a video statement on X, Mufti alleged that shopkeepers were asked not to open their shops before 10 am.
“Today, Jammu and Kashmir was converted into a jail and all the shopkeepers were directed that they will not open their shops before 10 am. We were under house arrest. This is a political war which has been going on for ages. A lot of people have sacrificed their lives for this. We have to come together and fight,” she was quoted as saying by news agency.
Meanwhile, police did not allow journalists to gather near National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah’s residence at Gupkar in Srinagar, officials told news agency.
Journalists were not permitted anywhere near the NC leaders’ home, and a posse of police officers had been stationed at the Gupkar Road entrance.
Omar Abdullah moved out of his official house in October 2020 and now resides with his father.
Farooq Abdullah, Srinagar’s Member of Parliament (MP), is in Delhi for the current session of Parliament; his son is in the valley.
After the Centre enacted measures to deprive Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divide the former state into two Union Territories (UTs)—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—Mufti, Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, and other leaders of the Kashmiri community were taken into custody on August 5, 2019.
