Srinagar: Member of Parliament from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah was on Monday prevented from leaving his residence here in view of security concerns on the anniversary of the Pulwama suicide attack, prompting him to lodge a strong protest.
Sources in the National Conference, of which Abdullah is the president, said that he was scheduled to travel to Jammu by road, a stretch of nearly 300 kilometers. The information about the programme had been conveyed to authorities concerned five days ago, but to his dismay, Abdullah found that the exits from his house were barred.
Abdullah, a former three-time chief minister and a sitting Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, managed to walk out of his house in the afternoon and is said to have hitched a ride from a passerby for a short distance before the security team persuaded him to return home in a police vehicle.
Police officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that no VIP movement is advised on the day of the Pulwama attack anniversary.
On this day in 2019, 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant rammed an explosive-laden car into a bus carrying security personnel.
Meanwhile, the National Conference has strongly condemned the “undue restrictions” on the movement of Abdullah saying such measures are at odds with basic individual fundamental rights.
It said that Abdullah is a national level leader whose commitment towards democracy and secularism remains unchallenged. “They contended that the incumbent government was hell-bent on brutally and blatantly silencing every contrarian voice by hook or by crook,” it added.

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Press Trust of India