Srinagar, Oct 18 (JKNS): AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday criticized Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s statement regarding the scrapping of the Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that all past chief ministers had the power to repeal the law but failed to do so.
In a post on X, Owaisi as per news agency JKNS wrote, “The Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) was introduced by Sheikh Abdullah in 1978 to deal with smuggling. 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G. M. Shah,Mufti Sayeed, GN Azad, Omar Abdullah & Mehbooba Mufti have all been CMs of J&K. They could have easily repealed PSA & prevented untold suffering and human rights violations.”
“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,” it reads.
“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. Now there is a truncated elected govt, and it has dawned on it to do away with the PSA,” it reads.
“Sab kuch luta ke hosh mein aaye to kya kiya”;”Din mein agar chiragh jalaye to kya kiya,” reads the post.
Earlier, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told media that his government would revoke the PSA once statehood is restored, asserting that he would not wait for an assembly session but remove it through an ordinance. (JKNS)
