Iltija Mufti hits out at Centre's outreach programme

Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who operates her Twitter handle, has hit out at the ongoing visit of Union ministers to Jammu and Kashmir.

She tweeted, "Normalcy acrobatics in full swing. Kashmir continues to reel under a crippling Internet shutdown & political leaders remain detained. There is massive surveillance & heavy troop presence yet curated photo ops continue."

On Saturday, a group of 36 Union Ministers started their week-long public outreach programme. The Ministers are arriving in batches. They are visiting a total of 60 locations across J&K - 52 in Jammu and 8 in the Kashmir valley.

On Wednesday, Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi visited the Lal Chowk here and interacted with some shopkeepers. He later told reporters that there is a positive environment and we are spreading this positivity among other people too by communicating with them.

"We are working to create a strong environment of change."

MoS Home G Kisan Reddy addressed a gathering at Ganderbal on Wednesday. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will head to Baramulla on Thursday as part of the public outreach programmes.

This is the first major public outreach programme of the Modi government after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. It is aimed at apprising the people about various Central government schemes and getting a feedback from the ground.IANS