Owaisi, Sajad Lone slam J&K CM on PSA repeal claim
Under PSA, a person can be put in jail without trial from six months to two years on the orders of a district magistrate after recommendation by police
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and People’s Conference president Sajad Lone has lashed out at Jammu and Kashmir chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah’s claim of removing Public Safety Act (PSA) on the return of statehood, saying all the previous CM’s of J&K have “misused” PSA when they could have easily repealed it in the past.
Taking to X, Owaisi said that the Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) was introduced by Sheikh Abdullah in 1978 to deal with smuggling. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was National Conference founder and grandfather of Omar Abdullah.
“Farooq Abdullah, G M Shah,Mufti Sayeed, GN Azad, Omar Abdullah & Mehbooba Mufti have all been CMs of J&K. They could have easily repealed PSA & prevented untold suffering and human rights violations,” Owaisi said.
Under PSA, a person can be put in jail without trial from six months to two years on the orders of a district magistrate after recommendation by police.Omar was also jailed under PSA by J&K’s administration when Article 370, which provided J&K special status, was revoked in 2019.
“The law has been misused by virtually every elected CM & unelected governors. Over 20,000 people have been jailed since 1978 without criminal charges, fair trials or even a proper appeals process. Some detentions were extended for up to 7-12 years. One separatist was detained under the PSA and, when he was later needed, he was served with a court warrant and granted bail,” Owaisi said.
He said that it was now dawned upon Omar Abdullah to remove PSA when his government was not able to do it. “Now there is a truncated elected govt, and it has dawned on it to do away with the PSA... Sab kuch luta ke hosh mein aaye to kya kiya. Din mein agar chiragh jalaye to kya kiya,” he said.
On Saturday, Omar had said they had talked about removal of the Public Safety Act in their manifesto subject to the condition of return of statehood. “Security, law and order, all these things should be under the control of the elected government. The day these things are ours, I won’t even wait for the assembly session. We will remove the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) through an ordinance,” he said.
J&K People’s Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajad Gani Lone also endorsed AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s strong criticism of the PSA, saying, “I have to say it is for the first time that someone from the rest of the country has called a spade a spade.”
Lone said the PSA is a draconian law that has been “used with impunity by all Kashmiri chief ministers and all governors whenever J&K was under central rule.” He added, “They never repealed this draconian law when they could. They never will.”
He said that based of verification system prevalent in J&K “passports are denied, government jobs are denied, and many more denials linked to employment or business opportunities continue.”
“This has now been further weaponised in the last five years. But this was used for the last 30 years. I have personally been a victim of this system,” Lone said.
