NEW DELHI: Iltija Mufti, daughter of former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, dared the government to arrest her for using social media as she said like many Kashmiris she will go back to the Valley and use the social media through VPN despite the ban.

Speaking at Indian Women ’s Press Corps on Tuesday, Iltija criticised the central government’s decision to scrap Article 370 and the house arrest of leading politicians from the former state, including her mother and former CM Omar Abdullah of the National Conference .

She said Abdullah and her mother acted as a buffer in Kashmir which the government has removed by abrogating Article 370. She said people of Kashmir are angry with the government and also like many people she has lost faith in the Indian judicial system.

"I think the government should be sued, when British left India, they bled us dry. We should demand compensation. We have lost Rs 18,000 crore," she said, and added that she wouldn’t mind approaching the International Court of Justice .

Though she said she is not meant for politics and her mother keeps a check on what she speaks, Iltija made a strong political pitch saying that when BJP struck an alliance with the PDP and formed the government in J&K how can the same party hold her mother in detention for being a security threat. “If the party feels she is anti-national why did they enter into an alliance with her party in 2014. Was the BJP sleeping then?" she asked.

"If speaking against the BJP makes me anti-national, I don't mind being called one," she said, and added that people in Jammu are also unhappy with the nullification of Article 370. She claimed that if elections are held in Jammu today, the saffron party will be wiped out. She said Article 370 was Kashmir’s emotional connect with the rest of India.

"I am talking not just as Mehbooba Mufti''s daughter, but also as an anguished Kashmiri. We all know what has been happening since Article 370 was abrogated,” she said.

The clampdown has had a huge cost and J&K is grappling with an economic, psychological and emotional crisis, she added. She also accused the Narendra Modi government of "spreading misinformation" about the condition of Kashmiris.

"I really think the government is indulging in propaganda and spreading misinformation. The rest of the country and the envoys who visited Kashmir were told that we enjoy equal rights but in reality you can''t even use VPN in Kashmir right now.

"I have respect for the PM as everybody else should. But I feel very sad that he is being misled or he is wilfully misleading the country. What rights do Kashmiris have right now?" she asked.

