Mehbooba Mufti Opposes Order Asking Her To Vacate Government Bungalow

Srinagar: Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, has been asked to leave her government residence in Srinagar’s high-security Gupkar area.

Mehbooba has received an eviction notice from the Estates Department to leave the Fairview residence she has called home since 2005, when her father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, served as the J&K CM. The eviction notice arrived as anticipated, Mehbooba stated.

Mehbooba and numerous other ex-lawmakers, including Nazir Gurezi, received warnings to vacate their official residences on October 15.

State legislation denying former CMs and legislators the right to government housing was changed by the Center in 2020. Mehbooba claimed that despite the home being designated for the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister in the notice, this was not the reality.

“After giving up the CM’s office in December 2005, my father (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) was allotted this location. Therefore, the administration’s stated justifications are incorrect,” Mehbooba said.

Mehbooba stated that since she didn’t own a place to stay in, she would speak with her legal team regarding this.

Formerly known as PAPA-2, the Fairview residence served as a notorious torture facility.

It remained as an official guest home until 1989 when the BSF moved in and gave it the moniker PAPA-2. Muzaffar Hussain Baig, the country’s finance minister at the time, lived there after renovations were made in 2003.