Mehbooba Mufti alleges police prevented PDP youth wing meeting

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Saturday alleged the police did not allow a meeting of the party's youth wing in Anantnag and also "roughed up" its members.

Mehbooba, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, also said the Centre wants to justify its "iron-fist approach by branding all Kashmiris as perpetrators of violence".

"PDP youth is not being allowed to conduct a meeting in Bijbehara today. The gates leading to Mufti sahab's grave have been locked & blocked with barbed wires. Can @JmuKmrPolice explain why were these young men roughed up?" Mehbooba said on Twitter.

PDP youth is not being allowed to conduct a meeting in Bijbehara today. The gates leading to Mufti sahab’s grave have been locked & blocked with barbed wires. Can @JmuKmrPolice explain why were these young men roughed up? pic.twitter.com/4efaRlGDl6

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) August 28, 2021

The PDP president said preventing the PDP youth from holding a meeting in South Kashmir “reinforces GOIs (Government of India's) strategy of not allowing any meaningful political engagement especially the one that involves Kashmiri youngsters”.

"GOI wants to justify their iron fist approach by branding all Kashmiris as perpetrators of violence," she said.

Mehbooba said the daily encounters where militants are killed have become a "source of celebration" for the Centre, but the PDP does not believe in violence.

"We want to fight peacefully & politically. By discouraging political activities GOI is pushing Kashmiris to the wall," she said.

Later, the activists of the party's youth wing protested the police's action and called for the restoration of electoral democracy.