PDP president Mehbooba Mufti launched her campaign for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency on April 16 with a road show in Pulwama.
"I have started my election campaign to raise voice against this enforced silence, the wanton arrests and atmosphere of suffocation that prevails here," Ms. Mufti told reporters after the roadshow. "Pulwama and Shopian have always supported us and I have started my campaign here. I hope people will make our voice, which talks about the wounds of Jammu and Kashmir, successful," she added.
The former chief minister, who is up against National Conference candidate and influential Gujjar leader Mian Altaf Ahmad, alleged that a process of arresting youth has been started since the elections were announced.
"Entire Kashmir has been converted into a jail. No one is allowed to talk. Since the elections have been announced, the process of arrests has also started," Ms. Mufti said.
"You must have heard that recently militants shot at a tourist guide in Shopian which is an unfortunate development. But it does not mean that you will arrest hundreds of youth and place them under the public safety act," she added.
Ms. Mufti said the situation was not peculiar to Shopian and Pulwama district. "It is not about Pulwama and Shopian districts only, this atmosphere has been unleashed across Kashmir. If they are claiming that everything is normal, then why these wanton arrests?" she asked.
The PDP president was accompanied by her party's youth president and candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat Waheed Para. "Waheed is here with me. He has suffered everything in the past few years. I feel that he reflects Kashmir and what is happening with its people and its youth," she said.
Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat is going to polls in the third phase of the elections on May 7.
