From spreading COVID-19 to killing elephant, Muslims being blamed for every problem: Mehbooba Mufti

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, whose detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) was extended for three months on May 5, on Friday said that Muslims are “villains” in “new India”.

Mehbooba Mufti was detained at the time of the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Her Twitter account is now being handled by her daughter Iltija Mufti.

“Being Muslim in new India is to live in fear & perpetually having to look over one’s shoulder.From wilfully spreading COVID to brutally killing an elephant,we are accused of being root cause of every problem that ails the nation. In this new apartheid system, muslims are villains,” read the tweet.

The tweet referred to the incident when Tablighi Jamaat was accused of holding a congregation in Delhi despite the government’s warnings and spreading COVID-19 by not obeying social distancing norms.

It also talked about the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala's Palakkad. Some social media users had erroneously said that the shocking incident had taken place in Malappuram, which is the Muslim-majority district in Kerala.

Booked under the PSA, Mehbooba Mufti was earlier kept at the Hari Niwas guesthouse in Srinagar. She was then shifted to a Tourism Department hut in the Chashma Shahi area. Later, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief was shifted to a government quarter in Srinagar's transport yard lane. It was on April 7 that the former J&K CM was shifted to her Gupkar Road official residence.

Two other ex-Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah were also detained under the PSA. The duo were, however, released later.