Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti (left) and Omar Abdullah have been placed under house arrest since August 5, 2019 and have now been charged under the Public Safety Act.

Congress leader P Chidambaram Friday hit out at the Centre for invoking the Public Safety Act against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah. “Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others,” he tweeted.

“Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?” Chidambaram tweeted.

Mufti and Abdullah were booked under the stringent PSA by the administration on Thursday, officials said.

 

Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy

When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 7, 2020

Chidambaram also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “the PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela”.

Several political leaders have been either in detention or in house arrest following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. This, as the government claims normalcy has returned to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.