NC will move court against Farooq’s arrest under PSA

SRINAGAR: The National Conference (NC), Jammu and Kashmir’s oldest political party, on Monday while reacting sharply to the slapping of stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on its president Farooq Abdullah alleged that the state was virtually under “martial law” wherein all democratic and constitutional principles and rights of the people have been forsaken.

The party, however, also said that it will knock the doors of court over Mr Abdullah being detained under the PSA and challenge the move.

In a joint statement, NC’s MPs Hasnain Masoodi and Muhammad Akbar Lone said that the move of slapping PSA on Mr Abdullah has “exposed” the claim of the government that the people of J&K have accepted the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories (UTs) and the that situation in the state is peaceful and normal to be but “false propaganda”.

While referring to Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement on the floor of Parliament that Mr Abdullah is unwilling to come out of his house, he is not under any arrest and that the government cannot force him at gunpoint to come out of the house, they said. “The slapping of PSA on Farooq Sahib has exposed the misleading propaganda of the Indian government, the Union minister and J&K governor.” They asked “How can a person who has been the chief minister of the state for three times, has served also as a minister at the Centre and was elected to Parliament on several occasions be a threat to the people?” The PSA has two sections — “public order” and “threat to security of the state”.

The statement further said that the BJP government is crossing all limits to justify its otherwise “undemocratic and unconstitutional” decision of stripping J&K of its special status and splitting it into two UTs.

“But it should understand that there is every possibility of these moves boomeranging on it and leading to serious consequences for the country. They should also know such moves (detaining Mr Abdullah under PSA) will not discourage our party from continuing with its struggle by restoring to all avenues available to it under democratic and constitutional frameworks.”