Interview :
‘Every Kashmiri leader should think of uniting.
That includes separatists’
- Khalida Shah
Since August 5, 84-year-old Khalida Shah, her son, Muzaffar Shah, and her brother, Mustafa
Kamal have not moved out of their house on Srinagar’s Maulana Azad road. They say they
have been under house arrest since August 5 - the day the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir
of special status under Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories. The Jammu
and Kashmir Police have officially denied this.
Khalida Shah is president of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference. She is
the eldest daughter of National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. She is also
sisters to Farooq Abdullah and aunt to Omar Abdullah, both former chief ministers of Jammu
and Kashmir, both National Conference leaders and both under detention since August 5.
Shah’s home continues to be guarded by their personal security officers, provided by the
Jammu and Kashmir police. Everyone entering is scrutinised. Only those with prior appointments
are allowed inside. A police official deployed there confirmed that the family does not have
permission to go out. Scroll.in visited Shah at her home on November 18.
Tell us what happened at your
residence on August 5.
Before August 5, there was a
lot of uncertainty in the air. We had
an idea that something ominous
was going to happen. On the morning
of August 5, a deputy superintendent
of police, in proper uniform, came
to our house and told my son
Muzaffar [Shah] that we are under
house arrest and can’t go out. The
DSP also told him that if we make
any attempt to go out then all of our
personal security officers will be
suspended for no reason.
But the Jammu and Kashmir Police,
in their written submission to the
court, has said that you, your son
Muzaffar Shah and brother Mustafa
Kamal, were “never put under
house arrest/wrongful confinement
and their right of liberty is neither
curbed nor their fundamental rights
jeopardised”...
If we are not under house
arrest then why don’t they allow us
to move out? After they [police]
submitted their written response in
court on October 23, we tried to
venture out of our residence but
they didn’t allow us. Instead, they
January - 2020
deployed a heavy contingent of
police outside. Everybody is witness
to it, including two sitting members
of Parliament, Hasnain Masoodi
and Mohammad Akbar Lone, who
had come to meet us on October
24. A large contingent of media was
present. We have video evidence
of the police preventing us from
moving out.
On November 5, Jammu and
Kashmir High Court dismissed the
habeas corpus petition challenging
the “illegal” detention of you, your
son and brother. It said the petitioner
was free to take “appropriate remedy
available to him under law before
an appropriate forum”. What was
your reaction?
Frankly speaking, I have totally
lost faith in the court. We had
approached the court with a hope.
A human being thinks that someone
may be honest and there might be
someone who will side with the
truth. But after the high court order
on our petition, I was disappointed.
But you are planning to approach
the court again?
See, if they had explained the
grounds of detentions to us or
officially shown us the reasons for
our imprisonment, through proper
documentation, we would have had
no objections. But since they say
we are not under detention we have
to speak against it. They are outright
lying. We can’t digest such a
blatant lie. That’s why we will go to
court again.
What do you think the government
fears if they allow you to move freely?
I can’t say what their
apprehension is. But if they think
we’ll sit silent about the revocation
of [special status], that’s not going
to happen. We have heard that they
want us not to hold any press
conferences, rallies or protests
against the August 5 decision.
Were you ever asked to sign bonds
promising not to carry out any
political activity?
No. And we don’t want to come
out by signing any bonds. I have
told them to keep us locked up for
whatever time they want to or
wherever they want us, but we are
not among those who will sign
bonds for our release.
Lately, there has been talk of a
“third front” emerging in Kashmir.
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