'Lies Exposed': PDP Says J&K Administration Prevented Party Leaders from Leaving Home to Attend Meet

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday did not allow several People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders to leave their homes for attending a party meeting here, its spokesman said.

“PDP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura had convened a meeting of PDP leaders today but the authorities did not allow the leaders who are still under illegal detention to leave their homes,” party spokesman Suhail Bukhari said.

He said this has exposed the hollow claims that political leaders were free people in the union territory. “The lies have been exposed. This proves that they have lied before institutions like the Supreme Court on India,” he added.

Meanwhile, CPIM leader M Y Tarigami condemned the police action to disallow PDP leaders from moving out of their houses for the party meeting. It has once again exposed the hollow claims of the BJP government about normalcy in Kashmir, he said.

“It is highly astonishing that the BJP government is even afraid of allowing a political party to hold a meeting. For more than one year, the BJP government has been lying about normalcy in Kashmir. If that is the case (that there is normalcy), then why were senior leaders of a political party placed under house arrest and not allowed to meet?” he asked.

“The fact is that the only thing the revocation of Article 370 has achieved so far is a complete abrogation of democracy in J&K and an unconscionable suppression of civil and democratic rights,” he added.

Tarigami said the government must release all party leaders, including PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, without any further delay.