‘Ironic’: Mufti’s daughter on PM’s Article 370 remark at ‘Howdy, Modi’ event

She also said that while people in Jammu Kashmir have been "gagged", a mass "hysteria is orchestrated" elsewhere to justify the decision.

By: Express Web Desk
New Delhi | Updated: September 23, 2019 06:07 PM IST

3 min read

Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. (File)

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi championed his government’s decision to scrap Kashmir’s special status at his US event, Iltija Mufti, daughter of former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said it was “ironic” that a move taken to secure the interests of J&K gets “cheered everywhere except the state it is meant to benefit”.

“Ironic that a move ostensibly taken to secure “special interests” of J&K gets cheered on everywhere except in the state that’s it meant to benefit,” Iltija, who has been using her mother’s Twitter account said in a tweet.

She also said that while people in Jammu Kashmir have been “gagged”, a mass “hysteria is orchestrated” elsewhere to justify the decision.

‘Effects of conflict are felt hardest by women & children’

In another tweet, the former J&K CM’s daughter also said that she wrote to various heads of women commissions to assess the current situation in Kashmir and its impact on women and children.

She said that the effects of conflict are felt hardest by the women and children and requested the heads to send a fact-finding team to assess the ongoing situation of Kashmir.

“You know very well how we, as women, get caught in the cross-fire as little men engage in their petty power play. There is a deep concern that the women of the state of J&K and their rights have been severely affected by the ongoing shutdown,” Iltija said in her letter.

She also said that there is no credible information on the number of women detained.

“It is unclear if the institutions for the protection of women rights including State women commission are functioning or are able to attend to the pressing needs of this present situation in State,” she said, requesting the authorities to visit and inspect the state. ‘The E-mail is not a request, but a desperate call for help,’ she wrote.

Iltija had earlier, on behalf of her mother, sent an email to the Union Home Secretary and J&K Home Secretary, seeking details of the detentions. She claims she is still to receive a response from them.

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The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been in a state of lockdown since August 5 when the government decided to modify Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and end the special status granted to the state. Restrictions have been partially eased, with landline telephones restored in almost all parts of the Valley.

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