Oppn attacks Centre for action against Mehbooba, Omar

THE TWO LEADERS HAD BEEN DETAINED SINCE THE GOVT NULLIFIED ARTICLE 370 TO REVOKE SPECIAL STATUS OF J&K

NEW DELHI: Opposition leaders questioned on Friday the government’s move to invoke the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, who have been under detention since August 5, when the government diluted the provisions of Article 370 to revoke the special status.

Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, tweeted: “…they deserve to be free, not incarcerated indefinitely without any basis.”

“They upheld the constitution of India, abided by the democractic process, stood up to the separatists and never ascribed to violence and divisiveness,” she said. The PSA is a 1978 J&K law, often described as a draconian measure, allowing the authorities to detain a person for up to two years without a trial.

The two leaders had been held under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure since the government nullified Article 370 to revoke the special status.

The detention period was scheduled to end on Thursday night. It did not, with the government invoking PSA. Omar Abdullah’s father, Farooq, another former chief minister, has been in detention under the PSA. Former finance and home minister and senior Congress leader, P Chidambaram, termed their detention without charges as the “worst abomination in a democracy”. In one of a series of tweets, Chidambaram said: “Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abduhllah, 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 wrote. He even took a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be followed.

“He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.” Chidambaram stressed the need for peaceful civil obedience to oppose “unjust laws”.