Srinagar, Aug 25 (JKNS): Peoples Democratic Party president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday called upon Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to lead an all-party delegation to various jails across the country where prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir are lodged, in order to see their condition firsthand.
Speaking to reporters during a protest in Srinagar, Mehbooba Mufti as per news agency JKNS said, “Omar should take an all-party delegation, and we too would like to be a part of it, to visit those jails where our people are lodged and check their condition.”
She added that if Abdullah was unwilling to involve opposition parties, then at least a group of his ministers should be sent to meet the prisoners. “I want to tell Omar that we are in opposition, we cannot do anything. But you are in government and you can. This is not politics, this is about those who are behind bars,” she said.
The PDP chief further appealed to the Chief Minister to personally take up the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “He should tell the Home Minister to shift these prisoners back to J&K jails instead of keeping them far away,” she said.
Highlighting the plight of senior leaders, Mehbooba said, “Shabir Shah Sahab and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders are seriously unwell. Even their families had to struggle for their medical treatment. If this is the condition of senior leaders, imagine the situation of poor youth who are still under trial.”
Earlier, police stopped PDP’s protest march from the party headquarters near Sher-e-Kashmir Park in Srinagar, disallowing them from moving forward.
Mehbooba condemned the police action, saying, “We only wanted to raise the issue peacefully, but the police stopped us. If the same zeal was shown in arresting those behind the Pahalgam attack, the situation with Pakistan would not have escalated.”
She reiterated that the matter should not be seen through the prism of party politics. “This is not PDP versus NC. This is about humanity and about our people,” she stressed. (JKNS)
