Mehbooba terms ED summons to mother ‘intimidation tactic’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

On the day when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) decided not to meet the visiting Delimitation Commission members in Srinagar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served fresh summons to the mother of J&K former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, asking her to appear before it and record her statement on July 14 in connection with a money laundering case.

According to the summons, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the ED has asked Gulshan Nazir, in her late seventies, to appear before Assistant Director Sunil Kumar Meena, who is the investigating officer (IO) in the case, at the central probe agency’s office in Srinagar.

Nazir is the wife of former Union Home Minister and late J&K ex-CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Expressing surprise over the summon, 62-year-old Mehbooba said the notice was served on the day her party decided not to meet the Delimitation Commission, set up to redraw Assembly constituencies in the UT.

In a Twitter post, Mehbooba said, “The ED sent a summon to my mother to appear in person for unknown charges. In its attempts to intimidate political opponents, GOI (Government of India) doesn’t even spare senior citizens. Agencies like the NIA (National Investigation Agency) and the ED are now its (government’s) tools to settle scores.”

‘Highly humiliating’

 The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Wednesday condemned the summoning of the mother of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti by the Enforcement Directorate.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday had served a notice on Mehbooba’s mother Gulshan Nazir asking her to appear at the agency’s office in Srinagar on July 14 in connection with a money laundering case.

“The summoning of widow of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is highly humiliating and there are not enough words to condemn such coercive acts,” PAGD spokesman MY Tarigami said in a statement.

The alliance said Gulshan Nazir is an old and frail woman and summoning her is nothing but pressure tactics of the government.

“Irony is that the summons was issued just hours after the PDP declined to meet the visiting Delimitation Commission. Muzzling the voices of dissent by using probe agencies against political opponents is unacceptable,” Tarigami said.

The PAGD spokesman said the summons were part of “vindictive policies to suppress dissent and disagreement and to silence the genuine demand for the reversal of unilateral and unconstitutional decisions of August 5, 2019”. — With PTI