Local youth being arrested, tortured in run-up to G20 event: Mehbooba

In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti has said that since preparations for holding the G20 event began in the territory, hundreds of local youth have been arrested by the authorities.

Mehbooba Mufti speaking at the party headquarters in Srinagar said, “Since the process of holding the G20 event has started, the arrest, torture and questioning of youngsters has also begun. People are being called to police stations and hundreds of youth from south Kashmir have been put in jails.” “The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is worse than Guantanamo bay”, she added.

Referring to the attack in Poonch in which five Army personnel were killed last week, Mehbooba said after the incident, Indian forces have started harassing people of the territory.

“Like (former J-K governor) Satya Pal Malik said that he was asked to remain silent when the Pulwama attack took place in 2019 (in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed), so, it is hoped that the investigation agencies go deep to probe how the (Poonch) attack took place in such a secured area despite such a huge presence of forces. We want the investigation to take place so that the truth comes out,” she maintained.

The former chief minister of the territory, however, said since the attack, the situation is Poonch is such that oppression is going on there, people are being arrested, tortured and questioned, during which a person, Mukhtar Shah, a resident of Bataduria area of Poonch, was arrested.

“Then it was said that he committed suicide. His family is saying if he was in police or Army custody, how he could commit suicide?” she said.

Mehbooba further claimed that Mukhtar Shah was picked up by the Army and police, his house was raided by the Indian notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) and police. They misbehaved with his elderly father and his wife and children. Then a video came out in which he said that he was fed up because his family and villagers were harassed….”

“There should be an investigation. His family says that he did not commit suicide and was under pressure,” she added.