Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 10: Eight prominent national political leaders including NCP president Sharad Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have demanded immediate release of three former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir who have been detained in the Valley since August 5 when the Central Government had abrogated special Constitutional provisions of J&K and bifurcated the erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
“Political parties committed to safeguarding rights of the citizens and securing sanctity of the Constitution, cannot sit quiet. It is our bounden duty to demand immediate release of three former Chief Ministers in J&K—Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti-and all other political detainees. 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.
“Nothing exemplifies this more starkly than the continuing detention of three former Chief Ministers for over seven months on “flimsiest of grounds”, they said, adding “there is nothing in the records of these three leaders to “lend credence to the 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.”
Apart from Nationalist Congress Party’s Pawar and Banerjee, the statement was issued by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja, RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha, and former Ministers in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie.
“India and its Constitution have always stood for unity in diversity with everybody’s views respected, honoured and heard, the joint statement said, adding “however, in the Government of Narendra Modi, democratic dissent is being muzzled by coercive administrative action, which has threatened the basic ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution.”
“There are growing assaults on democratic norms, fundamental rights and civic liberties of citizens of the Indian Republic. As a result, dissent is not only being stifled, but the avenues of raising critical voices are also being systematically muted,” the statement alleged.
The leaders said the indefinite detention of three former CMs of J-K and other political activists is a blatant violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
“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 erstwhile State (with People’s Democratic Party),” the joint statement said.
It added that this must be seen in the larger context of the “prolonged lockdown” of the erstwhile State since August 5 as it “exposes the oft-repeated lie” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah that the situation in J&K is “completely normal.
The Government has recently organized “well-choreographed” visits of the foreign diplomats to Srinagar, but 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 erstwhile State and assess the situation on the ground, the leaders observed.
The Opposition leaders also raised questions over the validity of the J&K PSA, 1978, saying it can be challenged following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution as the erstwhile State has now been stripped off its special status.
Omar turns 50
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah turned 50 today and spent the day at Hari Niwas here where he has been under detention for the last seven months.
Detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), Omar had a quiet day in the sub-jail not far from his residence on Gupkar road. His mother, sisters and some other members of the family met him for sometime in the afternoon.
His father and five time Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, himself a PSA detainee, could not meet his son on his special day.
Both Abdullahs have been in detention since August 5 following abrogation of special status and bifurcation of erstwhile state into two Union Territories.
On his 50th birthday, the Twitter handle of Omar saw a message from his sister Sara Abdullah Pilot who said she would be temporarily managing the account.
“Temporarily looked after by Sara Abdullah Pilot to keep track of my brother’s mentions & DMs. Will restore the a/c to its original owner as soon as he’s out,” the bio on Omar’s account reads. (PTI)
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