Farooq Abdullah held under stringent Public Safety Act

the birth anniversary celebrations of late Tamil Nadu chief minister, CN Annadurai, also the founder of the Dravidian movement, on September 15, but he could not be located because of his detention by the government.

The PSA has two sections — “public order” and “threat to security of the state” — the former allowing for detention without trial for six months and the latter for two years.

Abdullah’s son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and another former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, as well as several other Kashmiri leaders are also under alleged preventive detention. Many politicians are said to have been detained at the Centaur hotel in the Shere-kashmir International Convention Centre, which has been declared as a sub-jail by the government.

To challenge a PSA order, a person may approach the government within 10 days of the order. If the representation is rejected, they may approach the high court within a period of two months. Rules stipulate that such applications should be heard by a special bench of the high court composed of three judges. The NC described the action against Farooq as unfortunate and said it will mount a legal challenge.

“They have no justification to do that, but if they have booked him [Farooq] under the PSA, then what can we do. We can only approach the courts. We will take constitutional and legal recourse,” senior NC leader Mohammad Akbar Lone told reporters in Srinagar.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, also condemned the action.

“I strongly condemn it. The action against a former chief minister and leader of one of the oldest political parties in Kashmir is unfortunate,” Azad said.

Last week, the J&K high court directed deputy commissioner of Srinagar to arrange a meeting of two NC MPS with Farooq and Omar Abdullah, but barred the two MPS -- Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi -from sharing any details of their meeting with the press.