Omar, Mehbooba booked under Public Safety Act on last day of detention

Earlier in the day, the PSA was also slapped on two political stalwarts from NC and its arch-rival PDP

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were on Thursday night booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), barely hours before their six-month-long “preventive detention” was to come to an end. Earlier in the day, the PSA was also slapped on two political stalwarts from NC and its arch-rival PDP.

A magistrate accompanied by a police officer arrived at Hari Nivas where 49-year-old Omar Abdullah has been detained since August 5, the day the Centre abrogated the special status of the erstwhile state and also announced its bifurcation into two union territories — Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. He was handed over a warrant issued under the PSA, a law which was enacted by his grandfather Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in 1978 initially to check timber smuggling.

The PSA, which came handy for police force to book separatists and militant sympathisers, has two sections — ‘public order’ and ‘threat to security of the state’. The former allows detention without trial for six months and the latter for two years. Omar, who has been junior foreign minister and commerce minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Cabinet in 2000, was served with a three-page dossier in which he was alleged to have made statements in the past which were “subversive” in nature…

Did Andhra govt sanction Rs 11 cr for Naidu’s Delhi protest? TDP differs

Chandrababu Naidu protested at Delhi’s Andhra Bhavan demanding that the Centre fulfil all promises made during Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation in 2014 and grant a special category status to the state

Current Affairs: If the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s one-day long hunger strike in Delhi did indeed cause the state exchequer a whopping Rs 11 crore, protests are becoming an expensive affair. The state government reportedly released an order on February 6 allocating Rs 11.12 crore as part of the protest expenditure. The state government booked two special trains with twenty coaches each to ferry those attending the protest. The government reportedly sanctioned Rs 1.2 crore for the same and released another Rs 10 crore for “meeting the expenditure of the one-day protest in New Delhi.” Around 1100 rooms were also booked for those attending the protest.

“Government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to hire two special trains with 20 compartments each from South Central Railways, Secunderabad, i.e., starting one (1) train from Ananthapuramu and another from Srikakulam to reach New Delhi by 10.02.2019 to transport interested Political parties, organisations, NGOs associations, etc.. to participate in one day Deeksha (Protest) at New Delhi on 11.02.2019 to be led by the chief minister,” stated the government release.

The government order stated that the money was to be spent on “transportation of participants from different regions of Andhra Pradesh” and “payments of other bills”.However, according to India Today, the ruling Telugu Desam Party on Tuesday clarified that only Rs 2 crore was spent for the protest and that the Budget Release Order refers to the provision of Rs 8 crore for other state functions. It also said that the party has been organising ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ across the state since 2017 demanding a special category status, therefore, the protest was not a political function…Read More

Anantnag bypoll cancelled: Why have Kashmir's parties gone underground?

Public anger against PDP is mounting and unknown gunmen are knocking on doors of political activists

 

#LATEST | Less than a year ago, when you entered the town of Anantnag in South Kashmir, you were greeted with party flags. The pen and inkpot of the People’s Democratic Party, the plough of the National Conference, even the odd Congress hand fluttered in Khanabal Chowk, close to the government quarters.

As you drove deeper into Anantnag district, there were rival political rallies held in the main town and surrounding villages. And there was graffiti on walls and shopfronts, calling for a boycott of elections.

That was just before the bye-election to the Anantnag Assembly seat, which had fallen vacant with the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who had succeeded him as chief minister, won that election in June. And as mandated by law, she quit her Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. Which meant another bye-election was due.

The polling was scheduled on April 12 this year, three days after the bye-election to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. But when eight people were killed in firing by security forces on protestors trying to disrupt the Srinagar bye-election, which saw a turnout of only 7.14%, the Anantnag election was postponed to May 25. On Tuesday, as the violence continued, the Election Commission cancelled the bye-poll .

Clearly, the political and security establishments could not take any chances, certainly not in South Kashmir. A season of unrest has swept through the district since last June, wrenching the flags off Khanabal Chowk. There is new graffiti, demanding “India Go Back”, declaring “Intifada 2016”, swearing allegiance to slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and Pakistan. Some such slogans have been painted over but many remain.| read more...