Srinagar, Dec 31 (IANS): Former Chief Minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday alleging that the agency is being used as a tool to hound political opponents by the ruling party.
"It has come to my notice that the Directorate of Enforcement is summoning various persons from Kashmir, possibly in connection with ECIR/16/HIV/2020. The only common thread connecting these persons appears to be that they are all acquainted with me, my family or my politics in one way or another. The questioning of these persons is also focused on myself, my personal, political and financial affairs; my late father's grave and memorial, my sister's finances, home construction, my brothers finances and personal affairs etc. Not very long ago, a key person of the PDP, who has now returned successful by the people of Kashmir in the DDC elections, Waheed Parra was arrested by the NIA in what appears to be a non-existent case around the dates of the elections. On the eve of the results several of my relatives and party leaders were kept in unlawful detention by the J&K administration," the letter reads.
The letter posted by Mehbooba Mufti on Twitter further says that the use of the Enforcement Directorate against political opponents is not an unknown device for a party in power at the Centre.
"I wish to notify you that as a responsible citizen and politician, a former Chief Minister and Member of Parliament, and the daughter of one of the most illustrious public personalities in this country, I am ready and willing to face any questioning by any agency. But I will insist upon the legitimacy of the process. I have understood that mobile phones and personal digital devices of some of the persons summoned in connection with the aforesaid ECIR has been seized by or at the behest of the ED, or by intelligence agencies coincidental with the summons issued by the ED," the letter reads.
"I draw your attention therefore to Section 21(2) of the PMLA, 2002 and also notify you of the right to privacy, the right to democratic politics and indeed the right to due process. This is further to put you on notice that if you intend to question me or examine my electronic or digital devices, or those of the members of my family, you shall only do it in the presence of myself or my representative and under the supervision of an impartial/judicial authority. If there is any breach of what I consider to be the norms of law, good conduct or constitutionalism, I shall not hesitate to take the matter up legally and politically," the letter says.