India extends detention of Kashmir leaders

SRINAGAR: India has extended the detention of four political leaders in Kashmir who had been held by authorities since August to quell dissent after the central government stripped the region of its autonomy, two senior officials said yesterday.

The latest detention order was issued under the draconian Public Safety Act, which allows detention without charges for up to two years, the officials in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, said.

The four included two former chief ministers of India’s only

Muslim majority state, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, and two regional party leaders, Ali Mohmmad Sagar and Sartaj Madni.

They were originally held under a law that allowed a maximum of six months, and their detention was about to expire.

‘‘The law does not allow preventive detention beyond six months. So they had to be either released or booked under PSA,’’ one government official said, on condition of anonymity.

‘‘Several other regional leaders who have also completed six months under preventive detention are likely to be booked under PSA,’’ the second official said.

Reuters sought a response from the Home Ministry, but its spokesman was unavailable for comment.

In a reply before the Parliament yesterday, the home ministry said 389 people in Kashmir had been booked under PSA since August last year.

Some of those detained have been put under house arrest, while others had been taken elsewhere.

Rights group Amnesty International has described the PSA as a ‘‘lawless law’’.

The removal of autonomy and subsequent crackdown in Kashmir drew international criticism, and diplomats from several countries say they have raised human rights concerns with India’s foreign ministry.

Last month, India’s Supreme Court rebuked the federal government for shutting down internet and telecommunications

in the state.

Modi’s Government has argued the detention of politicians and internet blackout were needed to maintain order in a region where security forces have been fighting a separatist insurgency encouraged by neighbouring Pakistan. Islamabad denies giving material support to the insurgency.

Before scrapping Kashmir’s autonomy, India’s federal government detained about 5000 people, including businessmen, civil society members, lawyers and activists to prevent protests breaking out. — Reuters