Ghulam Nabi Azad addresses a press conference in Delhi. (PTI)
A day after Home Minister Amit Shah said there are no restrictions in the Jammu and Kashmir, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad issued a rebuttal saying an "environment of fear" is prevailing there and people are suffering due to a "government-made disaster".
Mr Azad, who returned from a six-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir recently, alleged that the government restricted his movement despite Supreme Court orders and kept a close watch on those who came to visit him.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also alleged that the centre was using local government for "repression".
"Those who say that there is no restriction in Kashmir should ask me. I am a living example. Despite the Supreme Court order, I was not allowed to meet many people. And every visitor that I had, their faces were captured in cameras," Mr Azad said at a press conference in New Delhi.
"Everything is not okay in both Jammu and in Kashmir, several ruling party leaders are also not speaking due to fear of their national leaders. An environment of fear is prevalent," he said.
Hitting out at the government for scrapping Jammu and Kashmir's special status, Mr Azad said all sections of society have been affected by the new laws. "You have given the pain, you need to give medicine," Mr Azad said in a message to the government.
Mr Azad alleged that the visuals cited by the government to claim normalcy in the state were from the one to one-and-a-half hour period when shops selling food items open in the morning and evening. "Whatever is told is a lie and deception, Neither Jammu nor Kashmir is happy," he said.
The Supreme Court had allowed Mr Azad to visit Jammu and Kashmir. He had told the Supreme Court that he had tried to visit the state thrice but was turned back from the airport.