P Chidambaram : Devastated and shocked after hearing about Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti being booked under PSA
Former Union Minister P Chidambaram attacked the government in a series of tweets today after it slapped the Public Safety Act on Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, both former chief ministers of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state.
P. Chidambaram says he is “shocked and devastated” by the government’s decision to keep Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, both former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir state — now bifurcated — under detention using the Public Safety Act (PSA).
The PSA is a 1978 Jammu and Kashmir law, often described as a draconian measure, that allows authorities to detain a person for up to two years without a trial.
Omar Abdullah, 49, and Mehbooba Mufti, 60, were being held under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — they have been in detention ever since the government announced its decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August.
That was scheduled to end last night, but it was not to be. They were booked under the PSA.
“Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy,” P Chidambaram, a Congressman and former central minister, tweeted Friday. “When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?”
Chidambaram called for “peaceful resistance and civil disobedience”.
Omar Abdullah’s father, Farooq Abdullah (another ex-CM), has been in detention under the PSA for months. He is 82.
On Thursday, three others besides Omar and Mehbooba Mufti were booked under the law.
