Political Leaders Cheer Revocation of PSA Against Farooq Abdullah
“Democracy is about having dialogues, not locking up people who don’t agree with you,” a Congress member tweeted.
Political leaders on Friday, 13 March, welcomed the revocation of the detention order under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) imposed on National Conference patron and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah.
Abdullah's party, the National Conference (NC), termed his release a "step in the right direction towards restoring genuine political processes in Jammu and Kashmir" in a statement on Twitter.
Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he welcomed Abdullah's release and welcomed his return to Parliament where he an MP in the current Lok Sabha. "His detention was a disgrace," Tharoor tweeted.
'Despotism and Arbitrariness': Chidambaram
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram hit out at the Modi government for keeping Abdullah under detention for seven months, alleging that "despotism and arbitrariness" constitute the rule of law in the Union Territory.
"Dr Farooq Abdullah, welcome to freedom. What was the justification to keep him in detention without charges for 7 months?" Chidambaram tweeted.
Democracy Is Not About Locking up People Who Don't Agree With You
Tweeting through her mother’s handle, Iltija Mufti, daughter of incarcerated PDP president Mehbooba Mufti demanded the release of all those detained following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said Abdullah's release was long overdue, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she prayed for the long life of Abdullah and hoped that the other two former chief ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, will be released and "allowed to join the democratic process immediately."
Another senior Congress leader Saral Patel said Abdullah should have been released a long time back. "Democracy is about having dialogues, not about locking up people unilaterally just because they don't agree with you," Patel tweeted.
The People's Conference also welcomed the release of the Lok Sabha member from Srinagar.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday, 13 March, revoked the PSA detention order against former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, a five-time parliamentarian and a member of the present Lok Sabha, with immediate effect.
Abdullah had been under preventive detention since 5 August last year, the day the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the first chief minister against whom the PSA was invoked, in an order dated 15 September 2019, a day before his detention was to be challenged in the Supreme Court of India.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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