Srinagar, Nov 17: Police have strongly denied reports that three Jammu and Kashmir political leaders were manhandled today while being shifted to a detention centre in Srinagar. The three leaders - Sajjad Lone, Shah Faisal and Waheed Para - were among 34 being detained at the city's Centaur Hotel and were being moved to the MLA Hostel because the facility lacked proper heating to deal with the Kashmiri winter.
The police response came after allegations of manhandling were levelled by Iltija Mufti, the daughter of PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, via her mother's Twitter account. Authorities said the detained leaders had only been subject to routine frisking and luggage checks before they were shifted. "Apropos some twitter handle claiming manhandling of some people at MLA hostel Srinagar, it is hereby clarified that no such incident has taken place. Mandatory security drills were followed as required for lodgement," senior J&K cop Imtiyaz Hussain wrote on Twitter. In a series of tweets posted around an hour ago, Iltija Mufti criticised the centre for physically abusing the three leaders. She also alleged that the new detention centres "lacked heaters, had surveillance jammers and had windows blocked with wood". "If a man who(m) PM Modi called his younger brother is being humiliated like this, imagine (the) plight of others," she said, referring to People's Conference chief Sajjad Lone.
She also highlighted at least two other leaders whom she claimed had been manhandled, writing, "the very same Shah Faesal who was called Kashmir's role model... ". |
