NEW DELHI – The Opposition on Monday demanded immediate release of all political detainees in Jammu and Kashmir, especially three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
“There are growing assaults on democratic norms, fundamental rights and civic liberties of citizens,” a joint statement by Opposition leaders said. “As a result, dissent is not only being stifled, but the avenues of raising critical voices are also being systematically muted.”
Nothing exemplifies this more starkly than the continuing detention on “flimsiest of grounds” of three former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers for over seven months.
“There is nothing in the past records of these three leaders to lend credence to the Modi government’s false and self-serving claim that they pose a threat to ‘public safety’ in J&K or that they have endangered national interests with their activities,” they added.
“Ironically, the BJP itself has allied with all three of them, and their parties, in the past, both at the Centre (with NC) and in the state (with PDP). The very validity of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978 can be challenged following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution as the state has now been stripped off its Special Status”, they said.
“The indefinite detention of the three former CMs of J&K, along with many other political activists, is a blatant violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. This must be seen in the larger context of the prolonged lockdown of the state since 5 August 2019, which also is an attack on the Constitutionally assured rights and dignity of millions of our sisters and brothers in Kashmir”.
Leaders said such measures only expose what they described as “the oft-repeated lie” that the situation in J&K is “completely normal”. “Whereas the government has recently organized well-choreographed visits of the foreign diplomats to Srinagar in a bid to show the world that the situation in J&K is “normal”, it has placed all kinds of hurdles in the attempts of representatives of India’s own political and media establishment to move freely in the state and assess the situation on the ground”.
“We also demand complete and verifiable restoration of the rights and freedoms of our Kashmiri brethren, who, against all odds, have repeatedly shown their allegiance to the Indian Union, by being an integral part of our democratic process”, the joint statement said.
Those who have signed the statement include Sharad Pawar, President, Nationalist Congress Party, Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal and President, Trinamool Congress, H.D. Deve Gowda, former Prime Minister – Janata Dal (Secular), Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), D. Raja, General Secretary, Communist Party of India, Prof Manoj Kumar Jha, Rajya Sabha MP from Rashtriya Janata Dal, Yashwant Sinha, former Foreign Minister and Arun Shourie, former Minister in Vajpayee led BJP government.
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