Mangaluru: Daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has penned a letter addressed to Home Minister Amit Shah after being detained in her home. In the letter, Iltija Javed questioned the grounds on which she is being detained and said that she has been “threatened with dire consequences” if she interacts with the media again.
In the letter, Javed wrote, “Today while the rest of the country celebrates India’s Independence Day, Kashmiris have been caged like animals and deprived of basic human rights. Hope and pray that I’m not punished/penalised or arrested for raising questions about my fundamental rights.”
Javed said that her detention was odd since she was not affiliated to any political party. “For the world’s largest democracy, doesn’t a citizen not have a right to speak up in the face of unimaginable repression… It’s a tragic irony that I am being treated like a war criminal for stating the inconvenient truth,” she added.
The Kashmir Valley has been on lockdown since India’s decision to revoke the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir. Soon after the decision was announced, former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were arrested along with several other local politicians.
On Wednesday, former IAS officer Shah Faesal was also placed under house arrest after being detained at the Delhi Airport and sent back to Srinagar.
Mufti’s daughter also released a voice note along with the letter amid a communication blockade imposed in the valley since August 5. In the voice note, Javed says that she fears for her life “along with those Kashmiris who have spoken up.”
