Owaisi flays Farooq Abdullah's detention under PSA

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday slammed the Centre for detaining National Conference leader Fraooq Abdullah under the stringent Public Safety Act.

Recalling that Home Minister Amit Shah told the Lok Sabha that Abdullah was neither arrested nor detained, he sought to know why the PSA has been invoked against him now.

"I condemn the usage of PSA against Farooq Abdullah. It is a draconian act, the whole world knows. A day before abrogation of Article 370, the Prime Minister of India met Farooq Abdullah. When the Prime Minister meets anyone, how can he be a threat to India?," the Hyderabad MP asked.

Abdullah, a former J&K chief minister who is 80-years-old, and Masarat Alam (alleged separatist) have now been put in one group by being detained under the PSA, he told reporters here.

"What message is being sent to all the politicians and political activists in J-K who have been voting and "keeping democratic flag of India alive?," he asked.

On Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad being allowed by the Supreme Court to visit Jammu and Kashmir, he claimed the leader approaching the apex court showed there was no normalcy in Kashmir.

"...he is a politician. If everything is normal, why cannot you allow normal politics?," he asked the Centre.

Noting that fundamental rights now applied to the J & K after abrogation of Article 370, he wanted to know whether freedom of expression was not part of the country's Constitution. "...it clearly shows that the government has messed up...," he said.

Owaisi, who was part of all-party delegations that visited J&K earlier, said he had no face to go to Kashmir now as those who believed in Indian democracy despite the threats from terrorists, have been detained and the PSA has been invoked against a former chief minister.

The BJP and NDA have no answer to rising unemployment and loss of jobs and it was convenient for BJP to rake up other issues so that people's attention can be diverted, he alleged.

Abdullah was placed under house arrest since August 5, when the Centre announced abrogation of the special status to J&K under Article 370 and its bifurcation into Union territories.

The stringent PSA, which enables authorities to detain any individual for two years without trial, was slapped on him on Sunday.