Video editor: Varun Sharma
The provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, now stand abrogated after being passed in the two Houses of Parliament and signed by President Ram Nath Kovind. The erstwhile state has also been bifurcated into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
But two former chief ministers of the erstwhile state Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah continue to be under arrest in Srinagar. Their families claim that they haven’t been allowed to meet them as yet.
The Quint spoke to Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti, who says that “she feels betrayed as an Indian.”
“As an Indian, I feel a deep sense of betrayal. I feel anguish. I feel very let down. The world’s largest democracy has literally stabbed us in the back,” she said.
Elaborating on why she feels betrayed, Iltija said, “Not only have they stripped us of our special status, they have taken away our self respect and sense of dignity by not even giving us a chance to have a reaction on this. There is a complete shutdown in the Valley and I don’t know how long they can do this for.
Iltija said that she hasn’t been able to get in touch with her mother Mehbooba Mufti.
“No, I haven’t been able to get in touch with her. She was taken at 6:30 last (Monday) evening. She was detained. I don’t understand the need for something like that. She was already placed under house arrest. No one was allowed to visit her. She wasn’t allowed to leave the house,” she said.
Iltija later updated saying that the former chief minister has been taken to a different location.
“This is their way of breaking her spirit and making sure that in such circumstances she is kept away from her family. (The idea is to) completely demoralise the political leadership here. I believe even Omar (Abdullah) sahib has been taken. I am assuming that like my mother, he also is under solitary confinement,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter took exception to the BJP’s allegation that a few political families like Muftis and Abdullahs have caused trouble.
“I just want to ask them do they take Indian people for a ride? Do they take their intellect for a ride that before every election you will sell this drivel that these families have caused so much trouble. And then when the result comes you don’t mind aligning with the same party run by the same family,” she said.
Iltija described the government’s move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as a “self-goal” that might work to the advantage of Pakistan.
“GoI (Government of India) has scored a self goal by taking such a big decision that will have catastrophic consequences for everyone, not just for Kashmir but the entire sub-continent. Now any youth in Kashmir who is disenchanted with the Indian state will look towards Pakistan,” she said.
She added that instead of reaching out to Kashmiri people, the government has only driven them away from India.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)