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AFP
New Delhi
A former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, seen as being pro-India, has been formally arrested under a law allowing him to be held for up to two years without charge, authorities said Tuesday.
Farooq Abdullah, 81, has been under house arrest since early August when India stripped Kashmir of its autonomy, imposed a security lockdown and detained dozens of local politicians including those who back the region being part of India. But on Monday he was formally arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and his home turned into a “judicial lockup”, Muneer Khan, a senior police official in Kashmir, said. It is the first confirmed case of a Kashmiri politician being arrested under the PSA since India’s August 5 move when it sent tens of thousands of troops to Kashmir and imposed a communications blackout. India’s national security adviser said earlier this month that a “majority” of Kashmiris supported its move except for a “vocal minority” backed by Pakistan, which India accuses of backing a decades-old insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people.
But in the wake of the lockdown, even pro-India politicians have spoken out about New Delhi’s intervention. A day after the Indian government revoked the special status, Abdullah climbed a wall of his house to address the media and condemned the move. That was the last time he was seen in public.
New Delhi
A former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, seen as being pro-India, has been formally arrested under a law allowing him to be held for up to two years without charge, authorities said Tuesday.
Farooq Abdullah, 81, has been under house arrest since early August when India stripped Kashmir of its autonomy, imposed a security lockdown and detained dozens of local politicians including those who back the region being part of India. But on Monday he was formally arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and his home turned into a “judicial lockup”, Muneer Khan, a senior police official in Kashmir, said. It is the first confirmed case of a Kashmiri politician being arrested under the PSA since India’s August 5 move when it sent tens of thousands of troops to Kashmir and imposed a communications blackout. India’s national security adviser said earlier this month that a “majority” of Kashmiris supported its move except for a “vocal minority” backed by Pakistan, which India accuses of backing a decades-old insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people.
But in the wake of the lockdown, even pro-India politicians have spoken out about New Delhi’s intervention. A day after the Indian government revoked the special status, Abdullah climbed a wall of his house to address the media and condemned the move. That was the last time he was seen in public.
