Delhi Police Detains Mehbooba Mufti During Protest Against J&K Anti-Encroachment Drive

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti was detained by the Delhi Police while she was protesting against J&K's anti-encroachment drive. She talked about the situation of J&K and said that Palestine is still better.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti was detained by the Delhi Police on Wednesday in the national capital while protesting against the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s anti-encroachment drive. Mufti alleged that BJP was using its brute majority to 'weaponise' everything and 'bulldoze' the Constitution.

News agency ANI posted a video on Twitter where the Delhi Police was seen detaining Mufti. While being detained she said that "Jammu and Kashmir is being destroyed like Afghanistan."

Accompanied by scores of party workers, Mehbooba planned to march from Railway Bhawan to Parliament, where she wanted to inform opposition parties about the Jammu and Kashmir administration's "bulldozer policy".

However, police detained the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, and took her and her party workers to Jantar Mantar. The protesters dispersed from Jantar Mantar.

"We had come to inform the public, opposition parties and members of the ruling BJP about the misery faced by the public at large in Jammu and Kashmir.

"If we can't go to Parliament, I wonder where we should go then. Does the government want us to get our grievances redressed at the United Nations," Mehbooba asked.

There is no rule of law that can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir and "we came all the way to Delhi to speak our hearts out. But it seems that here also the voice of the general public is muzzled," she said.

The PDP and other political parties of Jammu and Kashmir have denounced the anti-encroachment drive and asked the administration to stop it. They have said that it is affecting the poor.

On Tuesday, Mufti addressed a press conference during which she said that BJP is using brute force to bulldoze everything. During the conference, she said, "Palestine is still better. At least people talk. Kashmir is becoming worse than Afghanistan, the way bulldozers are being used to demolish the homes of people. What is the purpose of demolishing small houses of people." 

The government, according to Mufti, has also encroached on the centuries-old Shankaracharya Temple and cantonment that the former Maharaja built.

(With inputs from PTI)