Expected From 'Autocratic' Regime: Mehbooba Mufti After Govt Books Her, Omar Abdullah Under PSA
The detention under the draconian PSA allows the government to detain them without charges for up to two years. They were originally held under a law that allowed a maximum of six months, and their detention was about to expire.
People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti has said that booking her under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), was expected from an "autocratic" regime.
"Ms Mufti received a PSA order sometime back. Slapping the draconian PSA on 2 ex J&K CMs is expected from an autocratic regime that books 9 year olds for 'seditious remarks'. Question is how much longer will we act as bystanders as they desecrate what this nation stands for," says a tweet from her official account, which is currently operated by Mufti's daughter Iltija following the PDP chief's detention last year.
AFP
This came after Mufti along with another former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah were booked under the PSA.
Both former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers and two regional party leaders, Ali Mohmmad Sagar and Sartaj Madni, were detained after the government abrogated Article 370 last year.
The detention under the draconian PSA allows the government to detain them without charges for up to two years. They were originally held under a law that allowed a maximum of six months, and their detention was about to expire.
AFP
Senior Congress leader and former Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday slammed the government for invoking PSA against Mufti and Abdullah and said detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy.
In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, "Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others". "Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?" the former home minister tweeted.
BCCL
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chidambaram said, "the PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela". Unjust laws must be opposed through peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. That is satyagraha, he added.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned the basis on which former CMs were booked. "On what basis has PSA been slapped on Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti? They upheld the Constitution of India, abided by the democratic process, stood up to separatists, and never ascribed to violence and divisiveness. "They deserve to be freed, not incarcerated indefinitely without any basis," she said on Twitter.
BCCL
Congress Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the region is physical with India but no longer with us emotionally. "Prime Minister spoke against Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti in Parliament yesterday and they were charged with Public Safety Act (PSA) at night. Physically Kashmir is with us but not emotionally," he told ANI.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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