DMK terms PSA "draconian," demands release of Omar Abdullah,

Describing the Public Safety Act as draconian, the DMK on Saturday slammed the Centre for extending the detention of Kashmiri leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, and demanded their immediate release.

The Centre had booked the two former chief ministers under the stringent Act on February 6, barely hours before their six-month-long "preventive detention" was to end.

Hitting out at the centre, the main opposition in Tamil Nadu alleged the PSA was draconian and condemned their further detention.

Alleging that such draconian laws could be implemented in any State and against any leader, DMK president M K Stalin said such a scenario was not appropriate for both the country and Centre-State relations.

Keeping leaders who have faith in India's integrity under detention went against human rights and personal liberty and it was tantamount to ridiculing people's faith in Constitution and democracy, he alleged, adding the abrogation of Article 370 without "respecting the Assembly and people was a burial of democracy."
Further, Stalin, who has been demanding the release of all Kashmiri leaders ever since they were first detained in August last year, said no one could accept BJP using the government machinery and laws as per its "whims and fancies."
The CPI(M)'s Jammu and Kashmir unit condemned the slapping of the PSA on the prominent Kashmiri leaders, while the Congress termed the decision "unfortunate."