ED summons Mufti’s mom in laundering case, ex-CM links it to PDP skipping delimitation meet | India News – Times of India

SRINAGAR: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday summoned PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s mother Gulshan Nazir for questioning on July 14 in connection with a money laundering case, prompting the former to link it to her party’s refusal to meet the Delimitation Commission that is on a four-day trip to J&K.
“On the day PDP chose not to meet the Delimitation Commission, ED sent a summon to my mother to appear in person for unknown charges. In its attempts to intimidate political opponents, GOI doesn’t even spare senior citizens. Agencies like NIA & ED are now its tools to settle scores,” Mehbooba tweeted, posting a copy of the summons.

In his letter to Gulshan Nazir, the wife of former J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, ED assistant director Sunil Kumar said she should appear before the agency at its zonal office in Srinagar’s Rajbagh under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The summons was preceded by PDP striking the lone discordant note amid mainstream J&K political parties invited to meet the Delimitation Commission. It dismissed the delimitation move as a “pre-planned” exercise meant to benefit a particular party and “further hurt the interest of the people” of the Valley.
“On August 5, 2019, the constitutional and democratic values of our country were trampled upon, with the people of Jammu & Kashmir being robbed of their legitimate constitutional and democratic rights by means of abrogation of Article 370 and 35 (A) of the Indian Constitution, illegally and unconstitutionally,” PDP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura said.
“There are apprehensions that the delimitation exercise is part of the overall process of political disempowerment of the people of J&K that 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 said PDP’s stand had been conveyed to retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, who is leading the Delimitation Commission on a four-day visit to J&K. The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, of which PDP is a part, had left it to its five constituents to take a call on whether to meet the commission.
Restore-statehood cry dominates delimitation meet
Seven out of nine parties that met the Delimitation Commission in a Srinagar hotel on Tuesday pitched for restoration of J&K’s statehood before kickstarting what is supposed to be the first step towards restoration of democracy in the Union Territory. Barring BJP and BSP, all the parties that attended the meeting went beyond the commission’s domain to submit memoranda demanding that confidence-building measures in the Valley should start with revoking the changes triggered by the nullification of Article 370.
Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, the head of the commission, presided over the meeting alongside chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K election commissioner K K Sharma.
In a statement, NC said, “Democratic values are very dear to us, and we strongly feel that issues can only be resolved through dialogue and discussion…So far as the present delimitation exercise is concerned, the party has already communicated its stand to the commission in unequivocal terms.”
NC reiterated that the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, was “palpably unconstitutional” and allegedly enacted in violation of the spirit of the Constitution. “We have already thrown a challenge to the constitutional validity of the act,” it said.
Congress reminded the commission that PM Narendra Modi had assured everyone during the June 24 all-party dialogue in New Delhi that “transparent methods” would be adopted in carrying out delimitation of constituencies. “We accept this assurance in the spirit of restoration and strengthening of democratic structures in Jammu & Kashmir,” Congress said.