Three-time former chief minister and incumbent Member of Parliament, Farooq Abdullah, was arrested under a controversial law that lets the authorities to imprison someone for up to two years without charge or trial.
Farooq Abdullah’s Arrest Shocks Kashmir
Kashmir Valley residents along with the political activists after his arrest have expressed their shock.
The 81-year old, was also under detention or house arrest since August 5, and was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government stripped Kashmir of its special status and implemented a security lockdown.
“We have arrested him, and a committee will decide how long the arrest will be,” said Muneer Khan, a top police official in Kashmir.
Since the night of August 4, a day before the government made Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution ineffective as well as divided the state into two union territories, Farooq Abdullah, patron of the major regional political party National Conference (NC), was under house-arrest.
He was arrested for being a threat to ‘public order’, Abdullah’s Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar, reports said, has been affirmed a jail through a government order and he is going to carry on to be lodged there.
Thousands of protesters, along with pro-India Kashmiri leaders, have been thrown into jails as well as other makeshift facilities to hold protests against India’s decisions, as per to the police officials.
Most of the mainstream leaders, which also comprises of the son of Abdullah and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party president as well as ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti, have also been detained since August 5.
Party members on the other hand termed this decision as beyond shocking. “The person arrested is someone who has been a Union minister in the Government of India, a very senior politician and one of the most prominent faces in the country,” said Imran Nabi Dar, a leader of the NC. “The authorities slapped PSA on him without any justification. This totalitarian decision is beyond shocking,” he added.
Dar termed the decision as a repressive measure. He said “What crime has he committed? For God’s sake, we need to know. Why are they taking such repressive measures?” he further added by saying Abdullah is a “person who had held the country’s flag high during the worst turmoil.”
“The arrest of Farooq Abdullah threatens the identity of the country. He is one of the leaders who upheld the unity and integrity of the country in Jammu and Kashmir. His entire family including his father and son have served the state and the Union”, said Khurshid to ANI.
“Injustice had been done not only with him but the entire country”, Khurshid further added.
On the other hand, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and Leader of the Opposition in the House Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “I strongly condemn it. It is most unfortunate that a (former) chief minister of one of the oldest political parties in Kashmir (has been detained).
“Each chief minister and each political party, be it the Congress, NC or PDP, in Jammu and Kashmir have tried their level best to fight militancy. If there is no militancy today, it is because of these political parties and not the BJP,” said Azad, who has been a CM of the erstwhile state as well.
