On Thursday, the PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who has been in detention since August 4, was shifted amid biting cold in the Valley on request of her youngest daughter and after mounting criticism that her previous jail at Cheshma Shahi in the Zabarwan foothills of the city did not have proper heating arrangements.
The PDP leader was shifted on Thursday evening to a government facility — which has been turned into a sub-jail — on Moulana Azad Road in the heart of the city centre.
Mehbooba Mufti has been shifted from Chashme Shahi to a warmer location in Srinagar. The new location is close to her home where she had lived for years.
The decision to shift the former chief minister came days after her younger daughter, Iltija Mufti, had voiced concerns over the poor heating facilities available to Mehbooba at the earlier place and warned that the central government would be responsible if anything untoward happened to her mother. She had also said that Mehbooba was not keeping well.
On November 5, Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter had asked the administration to shift her mother to a place equipped to deal with the Valley’s harsh winters given Mehbooba Mufti’s health issues.
“As you are aware my mother Ms Mehbooba Mufti, former CM J&K has been jailed since 5 August. A doctor recently ran multiple tests on her as she was not keeping well. As per those tests, her Vitamin D, hemoglobin and Calcium levels are low,” Iltija Mufti had written in the letter.
“The accommodation she is currently lodged in is not equipped for Kashmir’s harsh winters. Keeping in mind these points, I would like to request you to shift her to another location more suitable. I hope you will address this problem urgently,” the PDP leader’s daughter had said.
Mehbooba is among the many political leaders, including erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir’s former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, who have been under detention in Srinagar since August 5, the day the Centre announced the abrogation of Article 370 provisions and the decision to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories (UTs)
Official sources said the government was planning to shift several other politicians and detainees to “warmer” places after concerns expressed by their families that Centaur hotel, where they have been detained, was not proper for winter stay.
Back in 2002, when the first non-Abdullah ruled government was formed by her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had chosen his residence on MA Road in the heart of Srinagar’s city centre to send across the message that he was the people’s chief minister and would remain accessible to them.
When Mehbooba became chief minister in 2016, she had also shifted to a guesthouse at Gupkar.
After daughter’s appeal, Mehbooba Mufti shifted to warmer location in Srinagar
Mehbooba Mufti, under detention at a guesthouse for the last three months, was shifted to a warmer location in Srinagar.
