After a gap of 46 days, the Twitter account of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti started sending out tweets on Friday with her daughter Iltija operating it with “due authorisation”.
“Ms Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister J&K to whom this twitter handle belongs has been detained since 5th August 2019 without access to the account. This handle is now operated by myself, Iltija daughter of Ms Mufti with due authorisation,” Iltija announced in a tweet.
The announcement came after the Supreme Court earlier this month allowed Iltija to meet her mother in Srinagar.
In another tweet, she attached a letter she had written to top officials seeking certain information about her mother but was waiting for a response two days later.
“I, Iltija emailed the Home Secretary of GOI & Home Secretary of J&K on 18th September seeking certain information for my mother, Ms Mufti. I am still awaiting a response,” tweeted Iltija.
In the letter, written on September 18 from Chennai, the daughter of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President complained that Mehbooba Mufti was not allowed to meet anyone other than the members of her immediate family.
Iltija mentioned in the letter that she met her mother a few times last week.
Mehbooba Mufti has had no access to newspapers and and has not had any political briefing from any member of her party or staff during the period of her detention, Iltija wrote in the letter, adding that she was not a political person and had no affiliations.
Whatever information she was seeking, it was on behalf of her mother, she said, while listing the concerns her mother had expressed.
“In my meetings with her, my mother expressed concerns at the number of detentions, and arrests (and in particular the reports of detention of children) that have taken place in the state in the aftermath of the recent Constitution Orders issues by the President and passage of the Reorganization Act,” she said in the letter.
Since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, several leaders including Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah have been under detention.