Srinagar
Hours after the PDP announced its decision to stay away from the proceedings of the Delimitation Commission, the Enforcement Directorate served a notice on the mother of its president Mehbooba Mufti asking her appear at the agency’s office here on July 14 in connection with a money laundering case. According to the notice, posted by Mehbooba on her official Twitter account, her mother Gulshan Nazir has been asked to appear before the central probe agency at its office in Srinagar.
THE CASE
The criminal case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is linked to the recovery of at least two diaries by the ED after raids on an alleged associate of Mehbooba, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.
The diaries contain details of some purported payments made from the chief minister’s discretionary fund in alleged contravention of rules, officials said.
These funds are alleged to have been diverted during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule in the erstwhile state. A few lakh rupees from these funds are alleged to have been transferred into the accounts of Nazir and some others, and the ED wants to question her about it, the officials said.
Nazir is the wife of the late Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
PDP writes to Delimitation Commission
Party to stay away from process
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday said it will not meet the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission as the Centre did not initiate any steps to ease the lives of the people and the outcome of the delimitation exercise was "widely believed" to be "pre-planned".
"Our party has decided to stay away from this process and not be a part of some exercise, the outcome which is widely believed to be pre-planned and which may further hurt the interests of our people," PDP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura said in a letter to the commission. Addressed to Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, who leads the commission, Hanjura reiterated in the letter the PDP’s stand the constitutional changes with regard to J&K in August 2019 were made “illegally” and “unconstitutionally”. Hanjura said the party believes the commission lacks constitutional and legal mandate and its very existence and objectives have left the people of J&K with many questions.
APPREHENSIONS: There are apprehensions that the delimitation exercise is part of the overall process of political disempowerment of people of J&K the government of India has embarked on. At the very core of these apprehensions is the process through which the commission has been constituted and the fact that while the delimitation process across the country has been put on hold till 2026, J&K has been made an exception," he added.
5-member NC delegation to meet: A 5-member delegation of National Conference will meet the Delimitation Commission, arriving on a 4-day visit to J&K on Tuesday, a party leader said.
