Owaisi Slams Successive J&K Governments for ‘Misusing’ PSA; Takes Swipe at Omar Abdullah
New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday criticised both past and present governments of Jammu and Kashmir for “misusing” the Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978, calling it a law that has caused “untold suffering and human rights violations.”
“Sab kuch luta ke hosh mein aaye to kya kiya. Din mein agar chiragh jalaye to kya kiya,” Owaisi posted on X, taking a jibe at former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who recently vowed to repeal the PSA once statehood is restored.
Owaisi said successive chief ministers, including Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, GM Shah, and Farooq Abdullah, could have repealed the controversial law but chose not to.
“The Public Safety Act, 1978, was introduced by Sheikh Abdullah to deal with smuggling. Every chief minister since then—Farooq Abdullah, GM Shah, Mufti Sayeed, GN Azad, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti—had the power to repeal it and prevent the suffering and human rights violations that followed,” Owaisi said.
The Hyderabad MP claimed that more than 20,000 people have been imprisoned under the PSA since its enactment, often without fair trials or legal recourse.
“The law has been misused by virtually every elected CM and unelected Governor. Over 20,000 people have been jailed since 1978 without criminal charges, fair trials, or a proper appeals process,” he alleged.
Owaisi further questioned why it had taken a “truncated elected government” to realise the need to repeal the PSA, despite decades of alleged misuse.
“Some detentions were extended for up to 7–12 years. One separatist was detained under the PSA and later served with a court warrant and granted bail. Now, suddenly, a truncated elected government has realised it should scrap the PSA,” he said.
His remarks came after National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah reiterated that his government would abolish the PSA once full statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
“We said in our manifesto that we would remove the Public Safety Act. But to do that, we must have statehood—security, law and order must be under the control of the elected government. The day we get these powers, we won’t wait for an assembly session; we’ll remove the PSA through an ordinance,” Omar Abdullah said during a press conference.
Abdullah also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being insincere about restoring statehood, alleging that the ruling party was linking it to who holds power in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The BJP never said in its manifesto, Parliament, or Supreme Court submissions that statehood depends on them being in power in J&K. If that’s the case, they should be honest and say statehood will only return if there’s a BJP government here,” he remarked.
Rejecting any possibility of allying with the BJP, Abdullah said the 2015 PDP-BJP coalition had already caused lasting damage to Jammu and Kashmir.
“An alliance with the BJP is out of the question. We’ve seen the destruction caused by the PDP-BJP coalition in 2015. People are still suffering its aftereffects. I have no intention of repeating the mistakes others made,” Abdullah added.
