Mehbooba Mufti to decide on all-party meet participation after PAGD discussion on June 22

In a key development, PDP announced that a decision on the participation of its chief Mehbooba Mufti in the all-party meeting will be taken on Tuesday. The Union Home Secretary had invited her and other leaders such as NC president Farooq Abdullah, ex-CM Omar Abdullah, Sajad Lone of the People's Conference, J&K Congress head GA Mir, BJP's Ravinder Raina and Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh to participate in the meeting to be chaired by PM Modi. Addressing the media after the meeting of his party's Political Affairs Committee on Sunday, PDP spokesperson Suhail Bukhari stated that Mufti had been authorized to take a call.

He added that the final decision regarding her participation will be taken in a meeting of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration scheduled on June 22. Mufti, the last Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of J&K, remained in office from 2016 to 2016 in a short-lived alliance with BJP. However, her relationship with the saffron party has been very fractured in the last few years. 

Mehbooba Mufti's arrest and subsequent travails

Former CM Mehbooba Mufti was detained on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated. Thereafter, she was booked under the Public Safety Act. While she was shifted to her Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar which was designated as a subsidiary jail by the J&K administration in April, her detention under the PSA was extended on May 5 and July 31. Though her daughter Iltija Mufti had moved the Supreme Court in February 2020 seeking the PDP chief's release, the matter was not listed for many months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, Mufti was released on October 13, 2020, barely a few weeks after the apex court commenced hearing the habeas corpus case. Subsequently, PDP became a part of the People's Declaration for Gupkar Alliance and she was elected as the vice president of this coalition. But, differences within her party emerged after her categorical assertion that she won't raise the national flag until the restoration of J&K's special status. This led to a flurry of resignations with senior leaders such as Dr.Ramzan Hussain, TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Hussain A Waffa leaving PDP.

Mufti's problems compounded with her party winning only 27 seats in the recently concluded District Development Council polls as opposed to NC's 67 seats and the arrest of PDP youth wing president Waheed Para. She was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate at its office in Srinagar in connection with a money laundering case on March 25. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs refused to grant her a passport on the premise that it will be "detrimental to the security of India".