Custody of Three Kashmiri Leaders Including Mehbooba Mufti Extended for Three Months

Srinagar : Against former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti, her detention under the Public Security Act (PSA) was extended for three months on Tuesday. Similarly, the detention of former minister and senior National Conference leader Ali Mohammad Sagar and senior PDP leader and relative of Mufti Sartaj Madni has also been extended for three months, officials said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah termed the Mufti’s detention as an incredibly brutal and backwards decision. Omar tweeted – “Unbelievably cruel & retrograde decision to extend @MehboobaMufti’s detention. Nothing she has done or said in any way justifies the way the Indian state has treated her & the others detained,” he tweeted.

Unbelievably cruel & retrograde decision to extend @MehboobaMufti’s detention. Nothing she has done or said in any way justifies the way the Indian state has treated her & the others detained. https://t.co/tyxXC9NFuL

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 5, 2020

“For a government that is making tall claims about normality in J&K the last few days coupled with the extension of Ms Mufti’s detention is proof enough that Modi ji has single handedly pushed J&K back decades,” he said in another tweet.

The Mufti was detained on August 5 after the central government repealed most of the provisions of Article 370 last year. Mufti was placed under house arrest on April 7 after being detained for eight months in two ‘sub-jails’. Mufti is the chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party. She was initially kept in preventive custody.

Later on February 5 this year, she was brought under action under Public Safety Act. Mehbooba’s daughter Iltija filed a ‘habeas corpus’ petition in the Supreme Court against her mother being detained. The court fixed March 18 for the hearing but could not be held due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.