Farooq Abdullah slapped with PSA; his house converted into jail

The Jammu and Kashmir government has booked three-time chief minister and former Union minister Farooq Abdullah under Public Safety Act (PSA). The PSA allows incarceration of up to two years with no trial.

According to sources, Abdullah has been charged with disturbing public order. His residence at Gupkar Road, where he was kept under preventive detention after the central government abrogated provisions of Article 370 and 35 A on August 5, has now been converted into a sub-jail.

It’s for the first time a sitting MP, a former CM and a Union minister has been detained under the PSA. The Act was introduced in the state by Abdullah’s father and National Conference patriarch Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to tackle timber smugglers in 1978. Since then, the Act was generously used by the successive governments against separatists and their sympathisers. 

Abdullah was slapped with PSA after the Supreme Court asked the Centre  and the J&K government to respond to a plea seeking to produce him before the court.  The plea was filed by Tamil Nadu’s MDMK leader Vaiko who sought Abdullah’s release from detention. 

In Srinagar, reports doing the round in media circles suggest that the NC leader’s detention was converted into a case under PSA after he refused to soften his stand on the question of revocation of Article 370 and 35 A by the Centre.

Two of his party colleagues and fellow parliamentarians, Abdul Gani Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, had met him last week under court orders.

“I met him last week,’’ Hasnain told THE WEEK. “ We wanted to enquire about his health as he has a heart problem.’’

He said he had also met former chief minister and Farooq’s son, Omar Abdullah, who has been kept at Hariniwas, the residence of former Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir Hari Singh, under preventive detention.

“Omar has grown beard,’’ he said. “He has access to newspaper but not television.’’

Except Lone and Hasnain, most of the NC leaders have been put under preventive detention along with leaders from other political parties like the PDP and the Congress.