Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has said on Tuesday that she has been placed under house arrest, and that this exposes the Union government and J&K administration’s claim that there is normalcy in the Valley.

“The Government of India expresses concern for the rights of Afghan people but willfully denies the same to Kashmiris. I’ve been placed under house arrest today because according to the administration the situation is far from normal in Kashmir. This exposes their fake claims of normalcy,” Mehbooba tweeted.

Recently, security restrictions had been imposed in Kashmir after the death of pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Mehbooba has criticised the Union government’s actions on Jammu and Kashmir several times over the last two years, since the erstwhile state’s special status was revoked. Most recently, referring to the Taliban seizing power in Afghanistan, the former chief minister asked the Centre “to not test” residents of the Union territory and asked the government to mend its ways, “understand the situation, and see what is happening in your neighbourhood.”

In March this year, the Union government refused to issue a passport for Mehbooba and her mother, saying it would be “detrimental to the security of India”. The Enforcement Directorate is currently conducting a probe into alleged money laundering, which she says is aimed at “dismantling” the PDP.

After August 5, 2019, when the Union government read down Article 370 and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, Mehbooba was one of the many local political leaders placed under detention and then house arrest. She was released in October 2020, 14 months later. Even since then, she has alleged several times that she was placed under temporary “illegal detention”.