The Enforcement Directorate (E.D.) on July 6 summoned Gulshan Ara, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s mother. Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the E.D’s move, which came shortly after her Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) refused to participate in the ongoing delimitation exercise, is part of the vendetta politics of the Centre.
“On the day PDP chose not to meet the Delimitation Commission, E.D. sent a summon to my mother to appear in person for unknown charges. In its attempt to intimidate political opponents, the government of India doesn’t even spare senior citizens. Agencies like the National Investigation Agency [NIA] and E.D. are now its tools to settle scores,” Mehbooba Mufti posted on Twitter.
On July 6, the delimitation commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, arrived in Srinagar to hold talks over four days with various stakeholders on the ongoing process of carving out new constituencies in the region.
Prior to the commission’s arrival in the valley, a PDP statement said that it will “not be part of an exercise, the outcome of which is widely believed to be pre-planned and which may further hurt the interests of the people”.
On June 24, Mehbooba Mufti was a part of a delegation of political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. The much-hyped meeting, the first one after the abrogation of the erstwhile State’s special status, was described as “disappointing” by the members of the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).
Ahead of the meeting, Mehbooba Mufti had stirred a row by saying that Pakistan should be included in the talks over Kashmir.
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