Tag: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti

Allowing Outsiders to Register as Voters in J&K Is Last Nail in Coffin of Democracy: Mehbooba Mufti

J&K is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the reading down of Article 370.

Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday, August 18 said she has asked National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah to convene an all-party meeting of Jammu and Kashmir to decide the future course of action with regard to election commission allowing outsiders to register as voters in the Union Territory.

According to chief electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar, Jammu and Kashmir is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the reading down of Article 370.

“I have requested Farooq sahib, being the senior-most leader, to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the new developments for adopting a unified course of action to deal with it,” Mufti told reporters.

Also read: How Long Will J&K Have to Wait for Assembly Elections?

The PDP president said she has asked the NC president to invite even those parties with which “we have differences”.

She said the move of the election authorities to allow outsiders residing ordinarily in Jammu and Kashmir for jobs, education or business to register as voters was the “last nail in the coffin of democracy here”.

(PTI)

Hyderpora Encounter: J&K Police Forcibly Remove Families of Civilians From Protest Site

The protesting families were on a sit-in since Wednesday morning and held a candlelight vigil after the daylong protest.

Srinagar: The family members of two civilians killed in an encounter in Srinagar’s Hyderpora, who were staging a sit-in at the Press Enclave, were forcibly removed by police around midnight and a few of them were detained, officials said on Thursday.

The protesting families were on a sit-in since Wednesday morning and held a candlelight vigil after the daylong protest.

They stayed put at the Press Enclave amidst a biting cold, demanding that the bodies of their kin be returned to them.

However, police forcibly removed the protestors from the site at around midnight, the officials said.

They said the power supply to the area was snapped before the arrival of the police personnel.

Several protesters were detained by the police, the officials added.

Mainstream politicians from Jammu and Kashmir have condemned the police action, video clips of which have gone viral on the social media.

Also Read: As Civilian Victims’ Families Contest Official Version, J&K Police SIT to Probe Encounter

“Instead of handing over mortal remains of the innocent civilians, police has arrested the family members for demanding the bodies of their loved ones. Unbelievably ruthless & insensitive. Least they can do is return the mortal remains immediately,” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote on Twitter.

People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone said the administration is intent on presenting its “inhuman and ugly face”.

“What on earth Has happened to the administration. Y can’t they present a human face. Y r they so intent on presenting a v inhuman and ugly face (sic),” he said in a tweet.

“General Dyer must be very proud of you @JmuKmrPolice,” National Conference (NC) leader Ruhullah Mehdi wrote on Twitter.

(PTI)

‘Kashmiris Don’t Want to Die Cheaply’ Says Former RAW Chief on Absence of Mass Protest

A.S. Dulat met the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir with the backing of the Union home ministry and Intelligence Bureau, says green light came from NSA Ajit Doval.

New Delhi: In an interview that reveals some of the details of the secret contacts with former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah prior to the revocation of his detention under the Public Safety Act on March 13, former R&AW chief A.S. Dulat says that he visited Srinagar to meet Abdullah and that the government had cleared the visit and, additionally, national security adviser Ajit Doval was fully aware of it.

Dulat – who said he visited Abdullah in Srinagar on February 12 – has known the National Conference patriarch for decades and interceded with him on behalf of earlier governments on at least two previous occasions. Speaking to Karan Thapar for The Wire, he says Farooq Abdullah will respond if the Centre reaches out and that he has always done so.

In a detailed interview which will be put up on The Wire’s website at 10 pm on Saturday,  Dulat revealed details of how this secret visit came to happen and the sort of clearance and support he got from the government in Delhi as well as the Intelligence Bureau in Srinagar.

Abdullah was detained the day the Modi government announced the scrapping of Article 370 last August. Though Union home minister Amit Shah had denied in parliament on August 6 that the NC leader had been detained, Abdullah appeared briefly before reporters in Srinagar outside his residence to say Shah was lying. He remained incommunicado after that and was formally held under the draconian Public Safety Act in September on the eve of a habeas corpus petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Tamil Nadu politician Vaiko

Also read: ‘I Am Free’ Says Farooq After PSA Detention is Revoked, Asks for Release of Others

Dulat told The Wire that his involvement began when he spoke to Abdullah on October 31 to enquire how he was. He asked if he could come and meet him and Abdullah said that depends on the authorities. Dulat then contacted a former colleague in the IB in Srinagar who said he would need to get clearance from Delhi. Dulat then contacted sources in the home ministry in Delhi but they did not give him permission to meet Farooq Abdullah. However, on February 9, he received a phone call from the home ministry saying he was free to go to Kashmir. Dulat says this phone call would only have happened with the knowledge and concurrence of Doval and this means the NSA was fully in the loop.

Although Dulat told The Wire his visit to Srinagar was a “private” one, he revealed that the IB in Srinagar provided transport to take him from Srinagar airport to Abdullah’s residence at Gupkar Road and back to the airport. It was a short trip and Dulat was back home in Delhi by 6.30 pm the same day. Shortly after his return, he was rung by the home ministry to find out how the trip had gone.

Dulat told The Wire that he spoke to Farooq Abdullah late on the night of March 13t), some six hours after the latter’s release, and that Abdullah told him he would probably come to Delhi in 15 days time. This means Abdullah is likely to miss the present session of parliament altogether.

Speaking about his meeting with Abdullah on February 12, Dulat told The Wire that the NC leader was particularly concerned about the use of PSA against his son, Omar Abdullah, and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti. Dulat said Abdullah could not understand why this was done.

He says Abdullah also expressed concern about the impact of the reading down of Article 370 and all the subsequent developments in Kashmir on his grandchildren. He said he himself was fully committed to India and had brought up his children in the same way. But now he did not know how to answer questions his grandchildren may ask.

Dulat told The Wire that Farooq Abdullah looked tired and was certainly not looking his best. He confirmed that he has had cataract operations in both eyes in the last four weeks.

Also read: Omar, Farooq Feel Betrayed, Won’t Keep Quiet: Abdullah Family

The meeting with Farooq lasted for an hour during which time he also met Abdullah’s wife, Molly, and his daughter, Safia, and had lunch.

Dulat, whose book, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, reveals that in 2002 Vajpayee and Advani seriously considered making Farooq Abdullah vice president and discussed this with him, told The Wire that the present government felt equally comfortable with Farooq Abdullah. He revealed that the Modi government tried to form an alliance with the Abdullahs and National Conference after the 2015 state elections before choosing the PDP and the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as a partner. At the time Farooq Abdullah was in London and in hospital and the government sent an emissary to meet him. Farooq said that he was unwell and not in a position to decide and referred the emissary to Omar. Dulat concludes that Omar rejected the deal. Dulat confirms that NSA Doval would be fully aware of all of this.

Dulat told The Wire he was confident the government would also find some way of talking to Mehbooba Mufti if it had not already done so.

Talking about Omar Abdullah, Dulat said the present government was even more comfortable with Omar than with Farooq. With great confidence, he said Omar Abdullah would be the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, i.e. whenever the state elections are held.

Speaking about the general situation in Kashmir, Dulat said he found Srinagar perfectly normal. He said shops were open and there were traffic jams in all the places you would expect to have them. Children could be seen going to schools which, on enquiry, he discovered were actually coaching centres because schools were at the time shut. He said that the people of Kashmir are still in shock after the abrogation of Article 370 and this is one reason why there have not been widespread popular protests against the abrogation. The other reason is the heavy presence of security forces. As Dulat put it, Kashmiris do not want to die cheaply.

However, radicalism has sharply increased in the last 3-4 months in particular, he noted. Dulat said the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was originally limited to Sopore and a few other places, has now spread through the Valley. He said there is no doubt that abrogation of Article 370 has fuelled radicalism.

Watch | Article 370 Dilution: How the Centre, and Not Kashmir, Has Lost its Special Status

Equally worryingly, Dulat told The Wire he had been informed that 50 foreigners (Pakistanis, Afghans, Arabs, Turks) had crossed the Line of Control from Pakistan three or four months ago and seem to have disappeared. If this report is correct, he is worried that this could be a potential terror threat. He specifically said he was very worried.

Dulat told The Wire the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party of Altaf Bukhari is a ‘King’s Party’. He said it can never replace the emotional hold of the National Conference on the Kashmiri people.

Finally, Dulat said that if Ajit Doval were to ask for his advice about what next steps the government should take, his answer would be “talk, talk, talk”. Dulat said the government must talk to all mainstream political parties as well as Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Dulat also said he would tell the government to start talking to Pakistan.

The above is a paraphrased precis of A.S. Dulat’s interview to The Wire. Watch the full interview below.

SC Issues Notice to J&K on Plea Challenging Mehbooba Mufti’s Detention Under PSA

The dossier on the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister is “manifestly biased slanderous, libellous”, the court was informed.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration on a plea challenging former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra also asked Iltija Mufti, daughter of the PDP chief, to give an undertaking stating that she has not filed any other petition before another judicial forum, including the high court, challenging the detention of her mother.

Iltija had filed a habeas corpus (bring the person) petition in the apex court challenging the government’s order issued on February 5 for invoking the PSA provision against Mehbooba Mufti to keep her in detention.

Habeas corpus is a writ seeking production of a person, who has allegedly been in illegal detention, before a court.

The bench has now posted the plea for hearing on March 18.

During the brief hearing, lawyer Nitya Ramakrishnan appearing for Iltija, said the impugned dossier, which formed the basis for invocation of the PSA, was “manifestly biased slanderous, libellous” against the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

Also read: Shah Faesal Is Not a Gunda, PSA Charges Were a Bad Surprise, Says His Family

She also said that a person cannot be deprived of fundamental freedom and personal liberty on these grounds.

The bench asked the lawyer to give an affidavit as to whether Iltija or somebody else has filed any other petition in the high court against the detention order.

The lawyer replied in negative and undertook to file an affidavit in this regard in a day or two.

She also said that Mehbooba Mufti has been accused of creating fear among the majority of the population and playing “cheap politics”.

She said that not a single incident of incitement has been referred in the dossier by the administration and the PDP chief has been wrongly put under detention under the PSA.

Earlier, the same bench had issued notice to the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory administration on a similar plea filed against the government notification invoking the PSA against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Mufti and Abdullah, besides two political leaders from the National Conference and its arch-rival PDP, were booked under the PSA by the administration on February 6, barely hours before their six-month-long “preventive detention” was to come to an end.

The grounds of detention against Abdullah claim that on the eve of a reorganisation of the state, he had allegedly made attempts to provoke general masses against the revocation of provisions of Articles 370 and Article 35A.

PDP’s Selective Action Against Party Leaders Creates Fresh Fissures

The party expelled its Rajya Sabha MP Nazir Ahmad Laway for ‘anti-party activities’ but did nothing against Muzaffar Hussain Baig, for his attempts to reach out to New Delhi.

Srinagar: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on November 1, expelled its Rajya Sabha MP Nazir Ahmad Laway from the party’s basic membership for his “anti-party activities”.

However, the party did not act against another senior leader, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, for his attempts to reach out to New Delhi.

Laway ‘undermined’ the party

Laway’s alleged fault was his participation in the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Union territory of J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu, in the summer capital Srinagar on October 31.

The PDP termed Laway’s participation as a “contravention” to its stand regarding the prevailing political situation in J&K following New Delhi’s unilateral decision to scrap the state’s special status under Article 370 of the constitution.

“The decision (to expel Laway) was taken because he undermined the party position by taking part in the swearing-in ceremony,” reads the statement issued by PDP.

The swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhawan was a low-key affair and marked the first day of the transition of J&K into two Union territories under the J&K Re-organisation Act, 2019.

Apart from senior officials of the state, invitations were extended to MPs from J&K. None other than Laway, accused of cozying up to BJP, attended the function, embarrassing his party.

A senior party leader privy to Laway’s expulsion said his participation in the swearing-in ceremony was “endorsement” of New Delhi’s new arrangement for J&K.

“It was not a small act. He is a habitual offender,” said the party leader pleading anonymity. “His Twitter handle shows that in the past two months he has spoken everything in favour of Delhi and nothing for Kashmir. At the end of the day, it undermines the party leadership,” the party leader said.


The PDP spokesperson Firdous Tak said the party remains ‘sacrosanct and above individual members’. According to Tak, the party cannot be part of any discourse which has the potential to further alienate the people of J&K.

Watch | Kashmir: ‘Timing, Selection of Euro MPs Could Have Been Better’

“The decision (to expel Laway) must have been taken after considering all the circumstances and facts and present political situation in Kashmir,” said Tak.

Unchallenged Baig

Contrary to the action against Laway, the PDP has chosen not to act against Baig, its chief patron, who last week met the delegation of European Union lawmakers in New Delhi, ahead of their visit to Kashmir.

The sojourn of the EU lawmakers was described by many as arranged by New Delhi to project that the situation was normal in the otherwise restive region.

The dichotomy in PDP’s modus operandi has now raised eyebrows over its functioning. The decision to “use two yardsticks”, as one party member described it, has not gone down well within the party ranks.

Baig participated in the closed-door meeting with the EU members at a time when the PDP said that it would not participate in any “choreographed rhetoric” to present normalcy in Kashmir.

Baig was leading two other Kashmiri politicians, Altaf Bukhari and Usman Majeed.

Bukhari has served as a minister in the previous PDP-BJP coalition. However, he was removed from the party after BJP pulled the rug from under the then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s feet in June last year.

A file photo of Narendra Modi and Mehbooba Mufti. Credit: PTI

A file photo of Narendra Modi and Mehbooba Mufti. Photo: PTI

Majeed, an Ikhwan commander (counterinsurgent) turned politician, is a member of the Congress party. He has been issued a show-cause notice by the party high command asking him to explain his meeting with the EU delegation.

Reports said that the trio also met the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval who briefed the high profile delegation of Kashmir situation.

The EU parliamentary delegation visit was also questioned by Mehbooba’s daughter, Iltija, who operates her mother’s Twitter account and responds to every political development vis-à-vis Kashmir.

“Wondering what outcome GOI expected by sending a group of mostly right-leaning Islamophobic EUMPs to Kashmir? Were you expecting nine million oppressed Kashmiris to lay out a red carpet for them?,” read a statement posted by Iltija which coincided with the EU delegation visit.

Ironically, a day after Baig’s meeting with the EU parliamentarians, the PDP distanced itself from the development saying the party leader had gone in his “individual capacity”.

Also read: In Kashmir, the Justice System Is in Limbo

“He met EU parliamentarians in his individual capacity. PDP has nothing to do with the meeting,” an official spokesperson said. “The party’s stand is clear that it will not be part of any choreographed rhetoric to present normalcy in Kashmir. The party stand is also clear on the issue of Article 370.”

A former PDP minister, wishing not to be named, said that given that Baig was the chief patron of the party, his participation in the meeting with the EU delegation was seen as a “sellout” by the party and a “compromise” of its stand on Kashmir.

“The party should have acted 9against Baig) given the stand that the PDP will sacrifice everything for its agenda,” said the former PDP minister. “If the party can act against the MP [Laway] for undermining the party’s stand, why no action against him [Baig], who too has crossed the line.”

Another leader said Baig’s meeting “hurt” the party’s stand on Kashmir, particularly in the wake of the August 5 decision of the government of India.

“The European delegation was bussed to the Valley to present a rosy picture of the situation which is far from reality. It was a managed event and unfortunately PDP became a party to it,” the leader said.

Unmoved Laway  

Defending his decision to participate in the swearing-in ceremony, Laway said there was no direction from the party against attending the function.

“Had it been so, I won’t have attended it. I attended the oath ceremony (of the Lt Governor) in the capacity of the Rajya Sabha member and not as PDP member,” the MP from Kulgam district said.

Laway denied having knowledge about his expulsion from the party.

“How can a party spokesperson issue a statement claiming that I have been expelled from the party when our President (Mehbooba) is in jail,” Laway said. “I want to know who the spokesperson is and what authority does he hold to expel me from the party.”

Mehbooba, who is the former J&K chief minister has been under detention since August 5, the day New Delhi unilaterally scrapped J&K’s special status.

This is not for the first time that Laway has acted against the party’s directive. Earlier this year, he abstained from voting against the Triple Talaq bill in Rajya Sabha, despite directions from the party president.

“That time Laway even ignored the direction from the party leadership to resign as MP for violating the directions,” said another party member.

Laway tore a copy of the constitution, along with another PDP MP Mir Muhammed Fayaz on August 5, minutes before the Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The bigger game?

Both Laway’s participation in the swearing-in ceremony and Baig’s meeting with the MEPs could be an indicator of fresh fissures within the party at a time when its leadership and leaders of other political parties are in jail and the political process has come to a grinding halt in the region.

Also read: Euro MPs In, Indian MPs Out – and Democracy Down the Drain in Kashmir

“For the PDP cadre, Mehbooba Mufti is the uncontested leader and under present circumstances, we shall stand by her and people. In 2015, she was pressurised to take up reins of the government in the state by Delhi when it indulged in different pressure tactics. Today, again they are trying to weaken her through same tactics,” said Tak.

Unfazed, Baig, a Harvard Law School Graduate and former advocate general of J&K, on November 2 issued a statement asking politicians in J&K to evolve a common strategy on the issue of contesting elections.

“If political parties have some understanding with the central government then they should contest,” Baig, the former deputy chief minister was quoted by IANS as having said. “Otherwise, the excuse will be you did not contest the elections, you are not the representatives of the people and why should we listen to you to restore the statehood and grant you the benefits of Article 371 of the Constitution of India.”

The statement from Baig, who many believe nurtures an ambition to become the chief minister of the state, came on the day a local newspaper reported that hectic parleys were underway with several politicians, including Baig on board, to prepare the ground for a new front to lead a future civilian government in J&K, excluding the Abdullahs and Muftis.

PDP Defers Meet With Detained Party President Mehbooba

Sources said the meeting was deferred due to the lack of unanimity in the composition of the delegation.

Jammu: The PDP has deferred a scheduled meeting of its delegation with party president Mefbooba Mufti, who is currently under detention in Srinagar, hours after announcing that a team of leaders would see her on Monday.

However, no reason was given for the development which came on a day when a 15-member delegation of the National Conference from Jammu met their detained party president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.

“PDP Jammu has decided to defer the scheduled visit of its delegation to Srinagar to meet the party president Mehbooba tomorrow (Monday),” former PDP legislator and spokesperson Firdous Tak told PTI on Sunday night.

He, however, did not give any reason for the sudden decision which came barely hours after the party announced that the state administration has given a permission to a delegation of the party from Jammu to meet the party president and former chief minister.

Sources within the party, however, said the visit has been deferred because of lack of unanimity on the composition of the delegation.

The visit has been deferred following the rift within the party over the composition of the delegation, they said.

Another PDP leader, who did not wish to be named, said the party will meet shortly to decide the new schedule.

“The visit has only been deferred and not cancelled,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Tak said the Peoples Democratic Party delegation will be led by general secretary Ved Mahajan.

The visit, if materialised, would have been the first meeting of PDP leaders from the Jammu province with Mufti who was detained on August 5, the day the Centre announced the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

Tak said the PDP had requested governor Satya Pal Malik to allow a party delegation from Jammu to meet Mufti and “we have been conveyed that the permission has been granted”.

The PDP leaders met twice in the day after the restrictions were lifted on party leaders recently and had decided to approach the governor to seek permission to visit the detained leader, the spokesman said.

The NC delegation discussed developments in the state and upcoming local body polls during the separate meetings with the two leaders. The Jammu and Kashmir government had given permission to the delegation to meet the leaders.

(PTI)

Fresh Restrictions in Kashmir Valley Ahead of Friday Prayers

This is the 26th consecutive day that mobile internet, broadband and communication channels have remained almost entirely closed in Kashmir.

Srinagar: Fresh restrictions were imposed in the city and other parts of the Kashmir Valley as a preventive measure ahead of Friday’s congregational prayers, officials said.

Restrictions under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were announced on the public address system. People have been asked not to venture outside and barricades have been placed.

Normal life remained disrupted across the Kashmir Valley for the 26th consecutive day, with markets closed and public transport off the roads.

While landline telephone services have resumed in many parts of the valley, mobile telephone services and all Internet services continue to remain suspended since August 5 after the Centre’s move to abrogate Article 370, that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state into two union territories.

Most of the top level and second rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including three former chief ministers – Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti – have either been detained or placed under house arrest.

As 10,000 Additional Troops Are Sent to Kashmir, Mehbooba Criticises Centre

The home ministry said the personnel will be deployed to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and law and order duties in the Valley.

New Delhi: The Centre has ordered rushing of about 10,000 Central forces personnel to the Kashmir valley in order to strengthen counter-insurgency operations and law and order duties there, officials said on Saturday.

They said the Union home ministry has ordered the deployment of 100 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) on July 25 on an “immediate” basis.

Officials said that 100 more companies are expected to be sent to the valley.

One CAPF company comprises about 100 personnel.

The latest units will be drawn from the CRPF (50 companies), SSB (30) and ITBP and BSF will contribute 10 each, they said.

The ministry has said that these personnel will be deployed to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and law and order duties in the Kashmir Valley, they said.

Also read: Behind the Spurt in Recent Encounters Lies the Flow of Recruits to Militancy in Kashmir

They are being air lifted and sent by trains, officials said.

It is understood that the new units will reinforce the strength of the security forces already present in the valley who are conducting the annual Amarnath Yatra and carrying out counter-terrorism operations daily, they added.

The troops will be addition to about 65 regular battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force in the valley and over 20 other battalions of other forces deployed to conduct the yatra that will end on August 15.

One CAPF battalion has about 1,000 personnel.

The new strength of the troops will also help in the conduct of the assembly polls in the state that are expected to be held in some time, they said.

Mufti critcises Centre

Saying that Jammu and Kashmir is a “political problem” which would not be solved by military means, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday criticised the Centre’s decision to deploy additional 100 companies of central armed police force (CAPF) to the valley.

Mehbooba, the president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also said the Centre needs to “rethink and overhaul its Kashmir policy.”

“Centre’s decision to deploy additional 10,000 troops to the valley has created fear psychosis amongst people. There is no dearth of security forces in Kashmir. J&K is a political problem which won’t be solved by military means. GOI needs to rethink & overhaul its policy,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

The Centre on Thursday ordered deployment of additional 100 companies of CAPFs “in order to strengthen the CI (counter-insurgency) grid as well as for maintaining law and order situation” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Stones Hurled at Mehbooba Mufti’s Motorcade in Anantnag

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti escaped unhurt after her convoy was attacked by stones during a visit to a shrine at Khirram in Anantnag.

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s motorcade came under stone-pelting in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday while she was returning from a shrine there, officials said.

Mehbooba had gone to a shrine at Khirram in Anantnag district to pay her obeisance and was returning to Bijbehara when the incident took place, they added.

One of the spare vehicles in the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister’s motorcade was damaged in the stone-pelting and the driver was hurt, the officials said.

Also Read: Some PDP Leaders Colluded With ‘Nagpur’: Mehbooba on Her Alliance With BJP

Others in the entourage, including the PDP president, escaped unhurt.

Mehbooba is contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha election from the Anantnag seat, which she had won in 2014. The south Kashmir constituency, spread over the four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian, is going to the polls in three phases from April 29 to May 6.

Mehbooba Urges Centre to Resume Dialogue With Pakistan

Mehbooba told the Union home minister that in the past when bilateral relations improved, Jammu and Kashmir not only witnessed minimal violence but also reconciliation and people’s active participation in democratic and developmental processes.

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday appealed to the Centre for the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan to end the “present phase of acrimony and confrontation” between the two neighbours.

The former chief minister made the appeal during a meeting with Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar, her Peoples Democratic Party said in a statement.

The PDP chief was among the leaders of various parties who met the home minister here on Tuesday.

“Good relations with Pakistan have a positive impact on the ground situation in the state and it also encourages reconciliation among stakeholders within the state which automatically results in a decline in alienation levels of people,” Mehbooba said.

She told the Union home minister that in the past when bilateral relations improved, Jammu and Kashmir not only witnessed an era of minimal violence but also reconciliation and people’s active participation in democratic and developmental processes.

Expressing concern over the prevailing situation in the state, the PDP president also urged the home minister to ensure that civilian deaths and collateral damage during security operations are avoided at all costs.

Mehbooba said she believed every civilian deaths not only add to the alienation of people but also pushes back the democratic and developmental process in the state.

She asked the home minister to direct all the security agencies to exercise maximum restraint and follow strictly the standard operating procedures while dealing with the security situations in the state to ensure that civilian lives and property are not put to any risk in these operations, according to the PDP statement.

Seven civilians were killed Sunday in a blast at an encounter site in Laroo village in Kulgam district after a gunfight between militants and security forces in which three ultras were eliminated had ended.