All 34 detained J&K political leaders shifted to MLA hostel
Were shifted due to escalating cost and lack of heating facilities at Centaur Hotel
SRINAGAR: As many as 34 political leaders of various mainstream parties, including the National Conference and Peoples’ Democratic Party, who were under detention at the Centaur Hotel were shifted to the governmentowned MLA hostel on MA Road here on Sunday, officials said.
Officials said leaders including NC veteran Ali Mohammad Sagar, bureaucrat-turned-politician and convener of Peoples’ Movement Shah Faesal and Peoples’ Conference leader Sajad Lone, were transferred to the government accomodation.
The political leaders, including former ministers and legislators, were placed under detention ahead of the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two Union territories. Officials said many factors triggered the shifting, including the escalating cost of the lodging at the Centaur Hotel and lack of heating arrangements.
“A bill of ₹3 crore was generated for keeping the leaders in the Centaur hotel. The government has so far paid around ₹10 lakh which was spent on food of the detainees,” a senior official, requesting anonymity said.
“Now, the bill could have escalated as heating arrangements had to me made due to the cold weather. At the MLA hostel, the government has its own heating system in place,” he added. On Friday, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was shifted to another location closer to the city centre Lal Chowk that has better heating and power arrangements.
According to officials, Mehbooba Mufti, who was placed under detention and lodged in a hut at Chesma Shahi, was shifted to a guest house of the estates department that is better equipped to beat the chilling cold after the recent spell of rain and snowfall in Kashmir.
In October, the administration had acknowledged that at least two political leaders belonging to the PDP were released while a third belonging to the Congress was allowed to move out of his house on health grounds. All the three leaders are former members of legislative assembly.
DETAINEES ROUGHED UP BY POLICE: ILTIJA
Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti tweeted that some of the deatined politicians were roughed up by the police as they were being shifted to the MLA hostel.
“SKICC detainees shifted to MLA hostel, Srinagar today. Police manhandled them and roughed up Sajad Lone, Waheed Para and Shah Faesal. Is this how you treat elected representatives? Why humiliate them? J&K is under martial law and police seems be inebriated with power,” Iltija tweeted.
“Manhandling started when Sajad Lone was repeatedly frisked and asked to undress. New jail windows are blocked with wood, lacks heaters and has surveillance jammers. If a man who PM Modi called his younger brother is being humiliated like this, imagine plight of others,” she wrote.
Kashmir inspector general of police SP Pani did not respond to calls made by HT.