Reacting to the move, the PDP said that “silencing voices will not silence the issues.”
The account was withheld days after Iltija shared a video of late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on X, in which he urged people to learn Urdu, saying that “Muslim religious and cultural knowledge in South Asia” is written in the language. Iltija’s post was widely shared, following which the cyber cell of the J&K Police registered a case against unidentified persons for circulating the video.
“Withholding the account of Iltija Mufti, a prominent PDP leader who consistently speaks on critical and important issues concerning J&K, raises serious concerns about freedom of expression and suppression of democratic voices,” the PDP said in a statement. It further added that “transparency and accountability are essential in a democracy. Silencing voices will not silence the issues.”
Mufti, 38, is among the most active politicians on social media and has around 32,900 followers on X.
Her last post before the account was withheld in India targeted Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks on banning alcohol in the Union Territory.
“J&K CM’s expected U-Turn on the refusal to prohibit liquor shops lacks logic. He claims it’s wrong to impose a ban on Hindus consuming alcohol since their religion doesn’t forbid it. If this is the case how have Hindu majority states like Gujarat & Bihar banned alcohol successfully without a whimper?” Mufti wrote on X adding, “We are proud of J&K’s secular credentials but deeply unfortunate and insensitive for its chief minister to dismiss the religious sensibilities of the majority with such indifference.”
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has banned the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Kashmir and has informally urged people not to use applications such as Signal. The cyber police has also intensified its social media monitoring and is closely tracking content shared on all the platforms.
