Women walk out of Jammu and Kashmir CM event, seek freedom

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday faced an awkward situation when scores of women stormed out of an official function here, alleging that they were “deceived” into attending the event during which chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was to “interact” with “self-help groups”. While leaving the venue in anger, they flung chairs and other furniture and water bottles and ch-anted “We want freedom.”

The event was organised by the state’s rural development department at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre overlooking the Dal Lake. The women had been brought from various parts of the Valley to what they told reporters to be part of an UMEED function. “We were not told that Mehbooba Mufti will be here too. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come,” sa-id one of the protesters.

However, the authorities sought to shrug the incident off saying that the there was “some misunderstanding” there which created chaos at the function. The chief minister said that the chaos descended probably after one of the participants fainted. “Women were present in large numbers and probably a lady fainted. She didn’t get water and others panicked. Hope this programme is organised again because it is an important event,” she told reporters.

Former CM and Opposition National Conference working president Omar Abdullah, however, saw in her assertion but a lie and a deliberate attempt to mislead the people. “I dread to imagine what lies @MehboobaMufti tells PM Modi in private when she can’t even be honest about things everyone can see videos of,” he tweeted.