A day after the death of separatist leader and former Hurriyat chairperson Abdul Gani Bhat, several politicians in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday claimed that they had been placed under house arrest.

Bhat, 90, died on Wednesday evening at his residence in Botengo village in northern Kashmir’s Sopore, The Hindu reported.

On Thursday, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti claimed that she and other Kashmiri leaders had been placed under house arrest to stop them from visiting Sopore to offer their condolences to Bhat’s family.

The action laid bare the “harsh and undemocratic reality” in the Union Territory, Mufti added.

“What unfolded at Hazratbal dargah, the eruption of spontaneous, raw public anger, was not just an isolated incident,” she said on social media. “It was a loud, unmistakable message from a people pushed to the edge.”

Mufti added that the Bharatiya Janata Party has remained “wilfully blind to this truth refusing to learn anything from the deep anguish and suppressed emotions that have been building for years now”.

The Peoples Democratic Party chief was referring to an inauguration plaque bearing the Ashoka emblem placed inside the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar that was damaged on September 5.

The Islamic shrine houses a holy relic of the Prophet Muhammad. The structure had recently undergone a renovation and was inaugurated by Darakshan Andrabi, chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board and a BJP leader.

A plaque featuring the national emblem was also installed at the site, which sparked criticism. Protesters had allegedly damaged the inauguration plaque with stones and chanted slogans, saying that the emblem went against Islamic principles.

At least 25 persons were detained for questioning in connection with the vandalism at the shrine.

Mufti said on Thursday that it had become “increasingly clear” that the BJP had “no interest in peace or healing” in Kashmir. “Instead, they seem determined to keep the region in a constant state of turmoil weaponising pain and unrest for political mileage across the rest of the country,” she said.

“This cynical approach is not just irresponsible; it is dangerous and utterly reprehensible,” the former chief minister added.

People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone also claimed that he had been put under house arrest to stop him from visiting Sopore.

“I fail to understand what is the need for this,” Lone said on social media. “Professor sahib [Bhat] was a pacifist and literally long retired. A final good bye is something which we all deserved.”

On Wednesday, Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that he too had been put under house arrest after Bhat’s death.

“It pains me beyond words that the authorities compelled the family of Prof. Sb to conclude his janazah [Islamic funeral prayer] hurriedly,” Farooq said on social media. “I have been locked inside my home, and being denied the right to walk with him in his final journey.”

Unidentified officials told The Hindu that the administration had suggested that the Bhat family should conclude the final rites by Wednesday night.

In his post, Farooq said that his association with Bhat “spanned 35 years of friendship and guidance”.

“So many others, too, longed to pay their last respects” Farooq said. “To be deprived of even the solace of participating in his janazah and bid him a final goodbye is an unbearable cruelty.”

National Conference leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi described Bhat as an “intellectual voice who contributed to public life and academic thought” in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Acts that obstruct the conduct of last rites according to one’s faith are condemnable and against our shared values of respect and humanity,” the Srinagar MP said on social media.

Who is Abdul Gani Bhat?

Born in Sopore in 1935, Bhat taught Persian language for 22 years before joining politics.

He co-founded the Muslim United Front in 1986 and went on to become the chairperson of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella body formed in 1993 by groups, aimed at providing a political platform for Kashmiri separatism.

The separatist leader was an advocate for dialogue on Kashmir between the Indian and Pakistani government. He was among the few separatist leaders who publicly met former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP leader LK Advani in 2004, The Hindu reported.

“The peace process should proceed step by step,” Bhat had said after the first Delhi-Srinagar dialogue. “Guns should be replaced by political talks.”

In 2017, Bhat was removed as the chief of the Muslim Conference after he met the Union government’s Special Representative Dineshwar Sharma and expressed his willingness to talk to New Delhi.

In 2024, the Union home ministry declared the Muslim Conference an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

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