Iltija Mufti calls it ‘intimidation’
Srinagar: Election authorities in Kashmir have registered an FIR against former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct, officials said on Wednesday while as, Mufti’s daughter and a star campaigner in just concluded elections, Iltija Mufti termed the registration of an FIR against her mother and party president Mehbooba Mufti as an “intimidation”, saying they will not take it lying down.
The FIR has been registered against Mufti for violating Section 144 after she and her party workers held a protest sit-in in the Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, the officials said.
The PDP president termed the registration of the FIR against her as “amusing”.
“Amusing to find an FIR filed against me for apparently flouting MCC. This is the price PDP has paid for speaking truth to power. Our protest was against GOI in cahoots with the local administration for detaining hundreds of PDP polling agents and workers in the hours leading up to voting,” she said.
“Still not satisfied, the same administration went on to launch Cordon and Search Operations in traditional PDP stronghold areas to terrorise our voters and prevent them from exercising their right to vote. Ulta chor kotwal ko daante (the pot calling the kettle black),” Mufti said in a post on X.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday staged a protest outside a police station in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, while polling was underway in the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary seat in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
She was protesting against the alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents.
The officials said the protest was a “gross violation” of the MCC.
“The huge group of PDP workers also blocked the main road and staged a protest at main stop Bijbehara (for) more than one hour which amounts (to) violations of the Section 144 CrPc which was imposed in the constituency,” the FIR said.
Election authorities had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC from 6 pm on May 23 till 6 pm on May 25 in the wake of the polling in the constituency and to uphold the sanctity of democratic principles.
The prohibitory order imposed a ban on unlawful assembly as per section 144 of the IPC and any procession or rally to prevent any law and order problem.
Meanwhile, PDP leader Iltija Mufti on Wednesday termed the registration of an FIR against her mother and party president Mehbooba Mufti as an “intimidation”, but said they will not take it lying down.
She said such tactics by the administration will not stop the party from speaking truth.
“An FIR has been registered against Mufti for MCC (model code of conduct) violation. This is intimidation and we are not going to take it lying down,” Iltija, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) media adviser, told reporters here.
“We will not kneel. We are here to speak the truth,” she added.
Referring to the sit-in protest by Mufti on Saturday when polling was going on in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat, Iltija said her mother did not want to create a scene. She wanted to protest against the detention of her party workers and election agents, Iltija said.
“When a former chief minister has to hit the streets, what does it say about democracy?” she questioned.
The PDP leader alleged that hours before the voting, police picked up the PDP activists and election agents and then labelled them as over ground workers (OGWs) of the militants.
Like the 1990s, police picked them up on the night before polling. Cordon and search operations were launched in only those places which were traditional bastions and strongholds of the PDP, Iltija said.
“Then they were labelled as OGWs. How dare you slander our boys?
“These boys play an important role in mobilising voters. They want to keep the flag of democracy high but you are labelling them as OGWs,” she added.
Iltija said the Centre, in “cohorts” with the J&K administration, wanted to “create terror in the areas, which have been traditional bastions of the PDP, to decrease voting”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the people on the polling percentage but the truth is that they tried to keep the polling percentage low, she alleged.
“You played mischief in Pulwama also,” Iltija said, adding the government wanted to “tacitly rig” the elections in south Kashmir because “they fear Mufti”.
She asked the administration not to detain the PDP workers.
“You dare not touch our boys. We will not allow you to take out the funeral of democracy,” she said.
