Srinagar: PDP MLA Waheed Para on Saturday said the Public Safety Act (PSA) has been consistently “misused” against the people of Jammu and Kashmir and stressed that it is time to review the law seriously.
His remarks came after AAP MLA from Doda, Mehraj Malik, was detained under the stringent legislation, which permits detention without charge or trial for up to two years in certain cases.
“The PSA has always been misused in J&K. People strongly resent it and there is a need to put an end to its use. All institutions must speak about it,” Para told reporters in Pulwama, terming Malik’s detention under PSA as “unfortunate.”
He recalled that political parties had contested assembly elections with the aim of abolishing the “black law,” but regretted that the issue is not even being discussed now.
Para also criticized Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather for issuing a notification confirming Malik’s detention under the PSA without issuing another to condemn it.
Calling on politicians to oppose the “misuse” of the law, Para said thousands of young people are in jails under PSA, and if elected representatives fail to speak out, “there is no meaning in public representation.”
On being asked about the Speaker’s show-cause notice to him for a social media post alleging that the assembly secretariat endorsed Malik’s detention, Para said he would respond to it and may also meet Rather.
Malik, who also heads AAP’s J&K unit, was detained on Monday for allegedly disturbing public order and has been lodged in Kathua jail. His arrest triggered violent protests in Doda, leading authorities to impose restrictions and suspend mobile internet and broadband services in the district.
